Hope
by RisuBento
Summary: The Kyuubi was gone. Forcefully ripped from his body. How was he still alive? Naruto looked out at the village beneath him. He was an empty shell. He felt like nothing was holding him down anymore. A piece of him was missing. But... He looked at the woman sitting next to him. "When the world says, "Give up," Hope whispers, "Try it one more time." She said. That was all he needed.
1. Chapter 1

**Hope**

1

I don't own Naruto.

" _ **Hope is never silent."**_

 _ **-Harvey Milk**_

* * *

 _"Tsunade-sama!" Shouted a medic-nin. The said woman turned from where she was standing and became panicked when she saw a group of her staff booking it down the hallway to her in frenzy, all the while carting a gurney between them. She went into doctor mode and took the clipboard, when they neared her, with the patients medical information on it. The name caused her to stop and she whirled with a shocked look on her face._

 _She gasped. "When did Team Kakashi get back?!" She ordered, looking over the man lying in front of her. He was in bad, BAD shape. His face wasn't recognizable; completely swollen beyond recognition. There was blood and wounds covering him everywhere-most notably from his ears and his eyes. From what she saw before her, she knew there were even deeper wounds-mental wounds. She swallowed and ran along side of the gurney towards the operating room._

 _"Just now my lady! We received word to meet them at the gates for immediate medical care." Answered one of the medic staff. "Haruno-san is also wounded terribly and is just behind us with Kakashi-sama."_

 _Tsunade swore. She practically ripped off the swinging doors to the operating room, pushing the gurney to the surgery table in the middle. They all chanted to three, lifting the stilled and battered body of the man onto it. She didn't bother with gloves or a mask and began cutting off his clothes._

 _"You! Hand me some anti-septic and gauze!" She shouted to someone beside her. They rushed and did as such. She tore of the remaining of his shirt and gasped._

 _"My lady?" Someone asked, when she paused. She almost couldn't believe the sight before her._

 _"His seals. They're gone." She said, almost to herself. Everyone paused and turned to take a glance at the belly of their fellow shinobi. Indeed-the usual markings of the Kyuubi's seal was no longer present. It was as if it had never existed. She took in a shuddering breath and proceeding to place her hands in position where the seal once was. The room fell silent as her searching hands glowed with chakra. She swallowed and felt-felt for any presence of the Kyuubi. She felt nothing._

 _"Lady Tsunade?" Someone in front of her asked. She pulled her hands away and let them fall to her sides. She looked up at the people surrounding her and spoke in almost a whisper._

 _"The Kyuubi...has been extracted from this boy." The room filled with gasps and murmurs. Tsunade ordered them to continue their work, before stepping back a moment to take it all in._

 _'How are you even alive Naruto? A jinchuuriki doesn't survive something like this-ever.' She pondered. 'The Akatsuki no longer exists, so who has this much power to do this?' She didn't like the odds of what she was thinking._

* * *

 **2 weeks earlier...**

Sakura launched herself up from the bed. She was panting and her mouth was parted probably from a scream that she'd emitted before waking. She panted and hugged her legs to her chest. She couldn't stop the dream. The same dream…over and over. A continual dream she had every so often of a doom she couldn't explain. She couldn't see faces, she only felt. The strong emotions of sadness and anger and devastation. She didn't know what any of it meant. She was afraid to think it was premonition to something horrific. She shook her head. She was sweating and shaking. She was so cold, even though it was the hottest summer Konohagakure had experienced in years. Normally she'd have her air running by this time but her landlord has neglected to even consider getting around to the fixing the damned a/c machine. She should move out. She had more than enough money to put a down payment on a house. She lifted her head up and glanced at the curtain of her window. Not even a slight breeze to help take away some of the humidity existed. She pulled her sheet off her legs and climbed from the bed. She held her arms around herself, with little hope that it'll give her an ounce of warmth, and wandered to the window.

The city was dark except for a few taverns and shops, still open, lighting the streets. Not a soul was around save for a few chakra spikes she got from Shinobi running and jumping from roof tops, either finished with their missions or out for a late night drink; ready to head home for a much needed nights sleep. She missed being able to go out at night with friends and be able to chat up how their lives were. It's not like she didn't want to, she was just so overloaded working with Tsunade and her hours at the hospital as of late. Every so often she would run into Kakashi and have a quick tea break with him—correction—she would drink tea and he would listen to her ramblings. Damn him and that mask of his. She'd known him for a good 12 years and not once did he show himself from beneath that mask! Of all the times she'd seen him getting gurneyed into the hospital, she'd never treated him. That was left to Tsunade. Oh well. Water off a duck's back. But…what she really missed was her Team.

Team 7. Considered to be one of the best groups of Shinobi put on a team, and not only that but with an incomparable Jounin for a teacher. At least that's what would have been said, if they'd actually made it to adulthood and staying together. She heard the whispers; the strongest team. The failure team. The failed Teacher. She shook her head. She was having one of her down days. Normally she was pretty chipper but some day's, spread far and thin in between, she would have a doom and gloom day and didn't have the energy to leave her home even. Tsunade told her it was completely normal to have those kinds of days. Heck even _she_ had them but she didn't have a choice but to work through them because she was Hokage. People needed her. Depended on her. The same was for Sakura. She new she would be better in the morning-but right now, as she climbed out of the window and pumped chakra into her arms, climbing and sitting on the roof, she felt was the best thing to do to mull over how her life was.

She laid back and watched the Milky Way span itself dreamily over the entire night sky, almost as if it was leading her somewhere. She sighed and laced her fingers behind her head. The heat was finally warming her up. She glanced over at the Hokage monument, the faces carved there looking eerie in the dark of night. She wondered what tomorrow would bring. Another day filled with healing wounds, treating sore throats, and possibly even resuscitating someone back to life. It brought herself into perspective at how fragile life really was. One moment, one little moment could change someone's life. In a split second someone's life could be over and she may not be able to save him or her. That scared the shit out of her. She'd learned from Tsunade that they couldn't play God. Shinobi came and shinobi went. They would do their damn hardest to try and save everyone but not everyone could be saved. She'd learned that year's ago when a Jounin came in with lacerations and a perforated artery. She and Tsunade had worked late into the early morning hours to try and stabilize him. She'd even gone as far as sticking her fingers into his neck wound to try and get at the artery to suture it. She'd succeeded momentarily, suturing the artery ends together with her chakra, with Tsunade complimenting her, when the artery didn't hold and practically exploded, spraying blood on the both of them. That was the first time she'd cried herself to sleep over someone's death. She'd felt it was her fault. They did everything in their power and she never understood why, even, Tsunade's chakra wasn't enough to save him. That's when Tsunade told her that it was out of their control. They couldn't control how someone died or how someone lived. It was natural selection. At first she was angry. And then sad. Depressed. And then angry again. Before one day she woke up and completely understood what Tsunade had meant. She'd been there. It was almost the same as the time she tried to get Sasuke to stay that night he was leaving. She couldn't _make_ him stay…no matter how much she pleaded for him to stay. She couldn't. That was his decision and she didn't have any part in making the decision for him to say. Even for her. She was bitter but that had gone when she'd learned to forgive herself. To clean her heart of him. Or at least the feelings she'd once held for him. Sure, she wondered where he was or what he was doing. Half the time she didn't want to think about him and other half wanted to run and find him and bring him _home._ She couldn't do that.

A small noise next to her caused her to glance over and she spotted a familiar figure standing at the end of her rooftop.

"Couldn't sleep either?" His voice sounded loud among the quiet of the night. It challenged the sound of the crickets it was so loud and yet she knew it wasn't. She sat and stretched her legs out before her shaking her head.

"Too hot." She said, running a hand through her hair. She watched him take out something from his many vest pockets and lit a cigarette, lighting up his face.

"Shikamaru. You know those are really bad for you." She said, trying to sound serious.

He glanced over at her, exhaling a plume of smoke, before wandering over and sitting next to her. He sighed and rested his elbows on his knees.

"Pretty sure that's the thousandth time you've told me that." He drawled, with a hint of a smirk. "And pretty sure I've seen you smoke a few in your time, Miss Medic-nin."

Sakura scoffed waving him off. "I don't know what you're talking about." She grinned and watched him take another drag off it. It almost made her salivate. She'd taken up the habit briefly after starting at hospital and it had been the only thing that could relax her for a while. That was before Tsunade found her and smacked it out of her hand, effectively bruising her hand and lecturing her to the end of time at how horrible it was. Pretty sure Sakura had mentioned something about her drinking sake all the time, and that didn't go over well. Sakura was pretty sure Tsunade had been more pissed because it was _Sakura_ doing it. Her shishou had mentioned more than once how Sakura was like a daughter to her. She'd quit that day. Probably for the best. She didn't need a damaging crutch like that to hold her down. She was a Jounin now. She had her future set and on a good path. She looked over at the man next to her and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"How are you?" She asked. She felt him pat her on the head, taking another drag.

"I'm ok. Life is slow. Just how I like it." He answered. She wrapped her arm around his and hugged it. She really enjoyed sitting around with Shikamaru. What an odd pair of friends they were. Honestly, Sakura didn't even know when their friendship had even started. One day they were just acquaintances, only really knowing each other briefly from word of mouth and through Ino and Chouji and then suddenly after a hefty death defying mission in which they had to depend on each other heavily, they'd struck a friendship. Shikamaru was easygoing and took life as it was. Nothing seemed to weigh heavily on him, even though she knew some things did. Whenever she was stressed he would somehow appear from nowhere and be able to chill her out. They'd gotten close. She was closer to him than she was with Ino now. He didn't judge her and didn't tell her what to do. Everyone needed a friend like Shikamaru.

"Naruto back yet?" He asked, before flicking his finish cigarette and watching it fall to the street below. Sakura shook her head.

"He won't be back for a couple more days. He's never been gone this long before. It's too quiet without him." She sighed, letting go of his arm and standing and stretching.

"Tch. It was nice at first. All that quiet…" He smirked and laid back. "But you're right though. It's almost boring around here without his enthusiasm."

Sakura nodded in agreement. Life was good. Having Naruto still around here was something she looked forward to. Almost too much sometimes. She'd grown close to him too. As they got older, she'd seen him in a new light too. He'd lost his entire baby fat in his cheeks, which resulted in a well-structured face, a sharp jawline giving him a matured look. She couldn't remember him ever looking the way he does now—she still had the image of cute little Naruto stuck in her brain. Time crept up on them too quick to have her notice the changes.

"Sakura?" She turned and looked at her midnight companion. He was looking at her with a bored but alert look on his face.

"What?" She said, walking back over and sitting down next to him again. He sat up and reached an arm around her shoulders, surprising her at his sudden aloofness.

"Life is good." He said briefly. Sakura noticed a pause in his voice.

"But? I sense a but."

He smirked and looked down at her. "Life is good. We're peaceful here. But…I feel like something's coming."

She frowned. "What do you mean?"

He shrugged. "Just a feeling. Not sure if it's a good or bad feeling. I'm not thinking too much about it."

Sakura stared at him a bit longer before she leaned into him. He usually shared with her when he had "gut-feelings". Usually it was nothing but something told her what he was feeling was real. She'd been feeling a weight in her gut for a while. Everyone had. Like they almost couldn't stand the peaceful time they were in. Like no one could believe that it was here to stay. Something _was_ on the horizon, and she didn't know if it was good or bad, so she figured she'd take Shikamaru's way of life and take it as it came.

0

Sakura was just finishing the rest of her shift when a knock sounded on her office door.

"Come in." She said, putting medical reports into a manila folder and opening a filing cabinet and putting it under the correct name label. She turned towards the door when it opened and she grinned at the familiar person entering.

"Kakashi-senpai. No window this time?" She chuckled, glancing at said window. Her former sensei nodded giving her an amused crinkle of an eye. He still wore that damn mask. She shook her head and crossed her arms, her white doctor's coat pulling taut against her back.

"Not today Sakura-san, these old bones are feeling creaky." He said, closing the door and sitting down across from her desk. She scoffed.

"You're only 38. That's hardly old, you know." She sat down at her desk shutting her computer screen off and glancing at the clock. 15 minutes and she could go home.

"Old for a Shinobi." He retorted lightly. She smiled and nodded.

"What can I do for you, Senpai?" She asked, liking that he was visiting her like a normal person and not just jumping through a window randomly and scaring the crap out of her.

"Ah, well. Tsunade-sama sent me."

"Tsunade-shishou? Sent you? That's odd. Why didn't she just summon me like she usually does." She asked, sitting up and putting her elbows on the desk, looking at him.

"Well what I'm about to tell you, I'm sure she wanted it coming from me." He said, meeting her eye dead on. She felt her stomach drop and her face pale. She almost told him she didn't want to know. She _didn't_ want to know. If it was coming from her old sensei it probably wasn't good.

She swallowed and prepared herself. "What is it, Kakashi?" Honorifics gone, she waited for the man to give her the worst.

"Sakura—now don't be too worried it's only a rumor—" He spoke quickly, almost to placate her, which was very un-Kakashi-like.

"Just tell me! I'm not a child." She snapped unintentionally. She hadn't meant to snap at him. He paused before nodding.

"I know you're not." He sat forward in the chair and rested his elbows on his knees lacing his fingers together. "We've received word from Kumo, that the team we sent out there for a border control mission has gone missing. They haven't been seen in weeks."

Sakura stilled. "But…the only team that's out there is—"

"—Naruto's. I know." He finished staring her dead in the eye. She couldn't get her brain to work properly. This had to be a mistake.

"What do you mean missing? There's no way Naruto would go missing. He's supposed to be back today. Maybe they're running late and didn't check in with the Raikage before they took off."

"Sakura." He spoke her name with such caution. She stopped and stared at him. "You know as well as I do, that Naruto is scary loyal to Konoha and its people. You're right he wouldn't just disappear, and we have to put trust in him that he and his comrades are okay. We were told that they went out for a quick check up on the borderlines before leaving and when two days passed Kumo hadn't heard a thing, and it's customary to check in before officially leaving for back home. No messenger birds. No letters, nothing, except a badly banged up Konoha shinobi from his group who practically dragged himself to the city gates. He died from blood loss before they could find out what happened."

Sakura could only stare at him. What was she supposed to think about this? She'd never had to think about a situation like this before. Never with a close friend. Never with Naruto. There had to be an explanation. She looked up at her friend and formed what she could for words.

"We have to go." She stated. Standing up and leaning her hands heavily against her desk, she could hear the cracks of the indentations she was putting into the wood. Kakahsi watched her, not having moved at all. What could she do? Naruto was her friend. They depended on each other. She couldn't just sit back and wait for word when nothing had been heard by anyone else. Kakashi stood up.

"Tsunade-sama sent me to tell you that she's ordered me to compile a team to head out on a reconnaissance with Kumo shinobi on the border. And she's also told me that you were to stay here."

"What!? That's bullshit—" She yelled. The death grip on her desk was almost enough to break right through it.

"—Sakura." He said, calmly. Almost too calm. He was so calm that it pissed her off.

"You know better than anyone else that I am fully capable of going on this mission. I'll be more than needed being a medic. You know this, Kakashi." She was angry.

Kakashi held his hand up as if trying to stop her. She seethed.

"Sakura. Naruto is also one the more important people in my life too. Tsunade-sama has stated that she wants you to stay because you, yourself, are too attached to your friendship with Naruto emotionally."

Sakura stared at him. She was breathing heavily through her nose. She could feel herself burning up from all the adrenaline. Too emotionally attached? Sure she was a great friend to Naruto, after Sasuke had left she leaned on that kid more than ever, but she wouldn't count it as emotionally attached.

"Basically, whatever happened out there, Tsunade-sama said that she didn't need a team with someone on it who's close to Naruto emotionally." Kakashi finished.

"I don't base my life on emotions Kakashi!" Ok, she had to admit that was a lie. Look at what she was doing now. She was overreacting. Wasn't she? She'd been too blinded by her anger to see how she was really acting. But…it's Naruto. What if she went out there and they came across a killing field? How would she react to what they found? Crying as a shinobi was considered weak among many in the ninja world. But she swore she would never let herself drop in humanity to not have emotions. If you didn't feel, you weren't alive, is what she thought. It _was_ a weakness though. She was a crybaby once. She was weak. She'd always been dead last behind everyone in the Rookie 11 when it came to skill. Sure her chakra control was epic but back then she was only concerned about her love for her other teammate. Times have changed. She'd learned to keep her emotions in check when it came to death. She had too. She saw it in the hospital everyday. She continued to stare at Kakashi before releasing the desk from its agony. Turning towards the window overlooking a park she put a hand on her hip and ran a hand through her pink strands.

"When are you leaving?" She asked, calming herself by counting to twenty.

"As soon as I get my team together, we're heading out." He responded sounding as cool as ever.

She scoffed. "How are you able to be so calm about this?" She turned to look at him, leaning against the window.

He shrugged. "When you've seen what I've seen in my life, you almost feel like all you have left is to be calm."

She sighed and glanced out the window over her shoulder. She watched as some genin practiced out in the park on the jungle gym. She was that small once. Not a care in the world. Never knowing what real danger and loss is until you've been forced to come face to face with it.

"I'm going to talk to Tsunade-shishou." She stated, starting to take off her doctor's coat.

"Sakura—" He started, taking a step forward. She put her hand up to stop him.

"You can't stop me, Kakashi. All I can do it try to reason with her. I am more than able to be apart of this mission. I can keep my emotions in check if it means we can bring home our shinobi." She watched him relax and put his hands in his pants pockets. She expected him to say something. When he didn't, she opened the window and jumped out, heading towards the Hokage tower. Kakashi watched her leave, a rare emotion touching his face.

0

Sakura didn't even bother to knock; she just came to the Hokage's office door and went in. Surprisingly, Tsunade wasn't at her desk, nursing herself on sake. She was standing at one of the man windows adorning the room. Her hands were clasped behind her back and she was staring off out at the expanse of the city. Sakura stood there for a moment before moving into the room and closing the door behind her. She heard a sigh and Tsunade turned around towards her.

"I figured I'd be seeing you within the hour after telling Kakashi to find you." She stated, her face looking strained. Sakura noted that her teacher was probably trying to hold back herself from smashing something fierce out of the Hokage monument behind the building. Sakura gave a short bow out of respect before walking towards her mentor.

"You know, as much as I do that I have to go on this mission." She blurted out. She had to try and convince her sensei somehow. Someway. Tsunade 'tched' and shook her head.

"Sakura…no." She said, before heading back to sit behind her messy desk. The piles of paper work thrown askew across it.

"But Shishou! This is Naruto!" She yelled, moving to stand in front of her. Tsunade looked up at her.

"Sakura. We need you here. You're too much of a necessity here. If you didn't return we would have such a loss that there would be a long time to recover from it before we could be back to where we were with you."

"I am a Jounin, Tsunade-sama. I can't stay confined in this place when I have fallen comrades out there probably needing medical assistance. I have more than enough credits to go out there and-"

"-Sakura-"

"-and I'm great at what I do but I am more than a medic—"

"Sakura—"

"—I am Kunoichi. A damn good one. You know that. If you think for any reason, that just because Naruto is my friend that I'm going to be a crybaby the whole time, then you're wrong! I have seen blood and death and disease! I'm prepared to live the life that I signed up for!" She could feel her eyes burn with angry tears. No…not now. She couldn't cry now. She was trying to make a point. She couldn't believe that she was even speaking down to her Shishou—to the _HOKAGE_ —but she didn't know what else to do. She was digging her nails into her palms so hard she was sure she was drawing blood. She watched her mentor stare at her with passive expression.

"I _know_ what kind of Kunoichi you are Sakura. A damned good one, yes. My problem is that you are too emotionally deep with Naruto. Who knows what kind of shit they got themselves into? I need to send out an advanced team of shinobi tenured to what they're going into."

Sakura didn't understand. Maybe there wasn't anything-wrong Naruto and his group at all. How could her teacher and close friend NOT want her to go on this mission? She stared at her for a moment before coming to a realization.

"There's more to this isn't there?" She asked, letting her throbbing fingers relax. "They didn't just disappear, did they?"

Tsunade eyed her with a steely gaze. She gave up on the starting contest, looking away and out the window again.

"You're too smart for your own good, Sakura." Her mentor sat up, propping her elbows and resting her chin on her hands. "We've received intel from ANBU that they weren't just ambushed—there had been a bloody battle. A massacre. From what they found out near the border of Kumo was a mess. It was grisly. Body parts strewn everywhere—ripped from their respective person. What we don't know is how many were killed or who was killed. It's likely that Naruto escaped, as they didn't find…" She stopped there and Sakura filled in the blanks. They didn't find parts of Naruto. Sakura swallowed the lump that had been forming in her throat. She felt like she was going to be sick.

"Let me go, Shishou. I have to find him. If not for the Leaf Village, but for me. Please." She said, quietly. She was asking a lot. Any shinobi who came into the Hokage's office asking what she was asking would have been turned away immediately or thrown out of the windows. Tsunade stood up and moved around the ornate desk and stopped to stand in front of her. She raised her arms and drew Sakura into a rare hug. Sakura had to really fight back her tears now.

"If I let you go—" Sakura moved to look up at her "—I said IF! What are you going to do if you can't find him? Or find out the worst?"

Sakura moved back and steeled herself. She stared down at Tsunade's heeled feet before looking back up at her.

"I will search the ends of the earth to bring him home. Alive or not. I will be a shinobi and do my duty. If there is anything that I have that has to do with emotions—it's hope. I'll never stop hoping." She answered. It was all she had left to say. It was a plea to bring home her friend. Her family. Tsunade sighed and lifted a hand to put it on her mentee's head. She was trying to save her apprentice from seeing the kinds of things that she had seen in her day. She didn't want to expose the "could be's" to this young woman. But…she couldn't protect her forever. She had no right.

"Go," And that's all Sakura needed to hear before nodding and disappearing out the door.

Tsunade moved to the windows again and stared at her city. 'Sakura. Be careful. Don't let your kind and loyal heart take hold and get you killed. I love you too much for that to happen.'

0

After leaving Tsunade, Sakura made it to her apartment in record time. She'd changed and grabbed her pre-packed backpack from within her closet—she never knew when she would be called away on an urgent mission and didn't want to lollygag around packing this and that. This was one of those times. She tied her long hair up into a ponytail and strapped her hitae across her forehead. Not even bothering to shut lights off she bounded out the bedroom window and headed for the city gates. They always met there—at least Kakashi did with Team 7 when it was mission time. She hoped and prayed that they hadn't left yet. Running from rooftop to rooftop gave her a feel of nostalgia. She'd missed this. Why didn't she do this more? She pumped chakra into her feet and ran as fast as she could. The gates came into view and she saw a group of shinobi standing there—thank god— with Kakashi who was giving instructions. She made a giant leap off a building and landed on the ground, causing it to partially tremor, before running and skidding to a halt behind the group. They all turned towards her—a few familiar faces, including Kakashi's. He almost looked surprised. She was huffing and puffing but didn't say anything. She nodded to Kakashi for him to continue. He gave her a look she couldn't decipher before shaking his head looking back to his team. Sakura partially listened. They were heading to Kumo to meet a reconnaissance with the Raikage. They were to be swift and take out anyone wanting to get in their way. Sakura closed her eyes. 'Be alive Naruto.'

0

Author's Note:

Just so everyone knows, anyone who is dead in the anime and manga are going to be alive and well in this story. Because I said so. Makes things less sad I think lol at least for me. And the 'M' rating is there for a reason. I need practice my grisly fights and possibly lemons. If you're not into that, then baiiiii. Furthermore I've picked up watching Naruto again and I'm almost about to start Shippuden. So if anyone is afraid of spoilers don't be. I can't remember half of what I watched when I was younger so this is an adventure for me too.

Also I haven't decided if this is going to be Sakura/Naruto or a Sakura/Sasuke story. Who knows, it could maybe develop into a Sakura/Kakashi story. I still haven't decided. This could go any of those ways. I love all those pairings. I'm leaning towards a Naruto pairing because there just aren't enough out there. There has to be more because I love that little guy and there's too many openings for the both of them to find a way to fit love into their lives with each other.

AND this is my first Naruto fic. Ever. I've been so stuck on Inuyasha my entire fanfic life that I felt I needed a change and by golly I fell in love with Naruto again and fell in love with all the Naruto fics that are published on here. I'm not sure when I'll update. Depends on when I get chapters done and I can create a decent updating schedule.

Plus, reviews are great :D Constructive Criticism is wonderful but Flaming just isn't all that nice. If you don't like the story so far just exit out and move on. Opinions about pairings are great too. Let me know what you think about them.

Thanks guys :3


	2. Chapter 2

**Hope**

2

 **" _Darkness comes. In the middle of it, the future looks blank. The temptation to quit is huge. Don't. You are in good company... You will argue with yourself that there is no way forward. But with God, nothing is impossible. He has more ropes and ladders and tunnels out of pits than you can conceive. Wait. Pray without ceasing. Hope."_**

 ** _-John Piper_**

* * *

Sakura watched her teammates below from where she sat perched in a tree. They were all sitting around a low fire roasting fish for a quick supper. She closed her eyes and breathed in the heated air. No matter where they went, the humidity and heat followed. By the time they'd finally stopped for the evening, at least 8 hours after leaving Konoha, her entire outfit was soaked in sweat. She didn't care. She wanted to keep going. She was tortured that they had to stay and rest. She voiced her opinion to Kakashi and he flat out told her no. She sighed. As much as she wanted to keep going until her body wouldn't let her anymore, she had to admit to herself that she was exhausted. She hadn't been out on a mission for months and it's taken a physical toll on her body. She should probably eat something. Just as she was about to jump down from her branch, she overheard some of the other Jounin below talking among their fire huddle.

"What do you think happened out there?" Asked a sandy haired Jounin.

"Kakashi-senpai wouldn't say. He just said I hope you guys have strong stomachs." Another jounin, with flame red hair, answer between bites of his fish.

"You guys gotta wonder about that Jinchuuriki though, right?" Sakura perked up and narrowed her eyes at a female Jounin who spoke up.

"You mean Naruto?" The sandy haired ninja spoke looking over at the woman. Sakura figured she wasn't going to like what she was going to hear.

"Yeah, I mean do you think he, like, somehow tapped into the Demon in him and killed everyone? I mean for all we know he probably took off after having a freak out or something." Sakura was right. She did NOT like what she was hearing. Always and forever people either hated or loved Naruto. The love had the mass majority but there were a few people that didn't like him and she had to tell herself a lot that it's because they didn't understand him. They just jumped to conclusions without really thinking about him or knowing him.

"Nah," the red haired ninja said. "Naruto's a good kid. After training under Jiraiya-sama for years he's mastered complete control over the demon in him. You should watch what you say, by the way. His teammate is with us on this mission."

"Oh you mean the pink haired chick? Yeah my dad's talked about her before. She's only on this mission because the Jinchuuriki is her friend, AND she's the Hokage's apprentice. She got in because she probably cried and blubbered until the Hokage felt sorry for her." The jounin girl flipped her long black hair over her shoulder and huffed before biting into her fish. Sakura swallowed and glanced up at Kakashi who was sitting in a tree across the site. She caught his eye over his book and he shook his head, as if to tell her to let it go. Sakura looked away and jumped down, landing right behind the out of line kunonichi. They all turned and looked up at her, their eyes going wide. The kunoichi turned and her mouth fell—quickly turning away back towards the fire; probably hoping Sakura hadn't heard a thing she said. Normally in a situation like this Sakura would have looked the other way and ignored her, seeing as she didn't know anything about what she was talking about, but right now Sakura didn't care. She stepped around the kunoichi and put her hands on her hips. And smiled.

"You're Mizuki Rika right? First in her class, aced the chunnin and jounin exams. You're Kekkai Genkai trait is the ability to manipulate plants to do your bidding, am I correct?" She stared down at the girl, her smile never faltering.

"H-hai, Haruno-san." Rika nodded, not meeting her eye.

Sakura's smiled even brighter. "If you ever need any medical treatment, swing by the hospital sometime. Ask for me and I'll be _more_ than happy to treat your wounds." Inner Sakura was currently squirting lemon juice into Rika's imaginary wounds before punting her away. Cha! Rika swallowed visibly and looked to the shinobi men next to her for help, who quickly resumed to be completely immersed into eating their fish. Sakura reached down and grabbed the stick from the girl's hand and took a bite out of her fish before handing it back to her.

"Thanks." She muttered, ignoring the bug eyes and slacked jaws from the three of them. She turned and walked towards the tree Kakashi was sitting in and wandered farther outside of camp towards the creek nearby. She heard muffled "She's so cool!" and "What a badass" from the two guys along with a shriek of "Why didn't you tell me she was there?! I've never been so humiliated!" from Rika.

"Don't wander too far, Sakura-chan." Kakashi drawled, as she walked beneath him. She gave him a wave without turning around before leaving.

She didn't like how that made her feel. Acting like a bitch to people went against her personal code but…she didn't know what made her do it. Ok, so she did. She was all twisted up with worry and fear for Naruto that she let her emotions get the best of her this time. She wouldn't do it again. Here we go with emotions again. They were right. She was an emotional person. She just can't sit back and watch people belittle other people. Especially her friends. It wasn't right and she felt that she should speak up about it. Nobody liked bullies. Wandering further in the trees she made a turn to head towards the creek. She wasn't that far away—she could still see the firelight and hear their voices albeit rather muffled. She knelt down hugging her knees to herself and watched the water run over some rocks. She sighed. She had to keep herself in check. All she wanted to do was scream and cry until magically Naruto came back. But of course, she couldn't do that. She had to be steely and stoic. It was expected of her.

"Really made a good friend back there, I see." Came a voice. Sakura looked over after sensing them coming closer to her.

"Sorry, Shikamaru. I'm not feeling so friendly right now." She said, looking back at the water. She picked up a rock and chucked it into the water, accidently putting some chakra behind the throw and making a crater in the waterbed before the water continued over it like nothing had happened. She'd forgotten that Shikamaru was on this mission with them. It wasn't like her to forget that he was there. Her mind really WAS not altogether.

"Ah, well. Too bad." He said, shuffling over to a rock near here and sitting down to light a cigarette.

"I shouldn't have let my emotions get the best of me. I know. I just couldn't sit there and listen to her bad mouth Naruto when she doesn't even know him." She said, drawing who knows what in the mud with a small stick.

"Nothing wrong with a little authority reminder." He said, exhaling smoke.

"We're both Jounin, Shika. I'm not above or beneath her."

"Yeah but you've been a jounin longer than her and you're also the Hokage's apprentice. You've gotta give yourself a little more credit sometimes."

She shook her head and threw the stick in the water before standing. "I don't want to be above or beneath someone who's younger than me. She still has a lot more years to go ahead of her, even if I want to take that pretty hair of hers and chop it off with a kunai." See there she went again. She was never nasty sounding. Like ever. It left a sour taste in her mouth.

"Ooooh, so scared. What is it with you girls and hair? Like it's the most damaging thing that could happen to you if it was cut." He shook his head and watched her walk towards him.

She laughed quietly. "If you were a girl you would understand probably. Ino's worse than me though."

"God, you're telling me. I accidentally singed her hair one time with my lighter and she knocked me into next month and then proceeded to cry her eyes out, shouting that her life was ruined." He closed his eyes at the memory and shook his head fast, as if to shake out the memory. Sakura laughed a little louder at the thought. That was so Ino; a tough and skilled kunoichi, but a girly girl at heart. She sat down next to him and reached over, plucking the cigarette from his mouth and took a drag off it.

"Hey!" He tsked and took it back, shifting away from her.

"What? Oh that's right. It's not good for me, I forgot." She smiled and patted him on the back. She had an acrid taste in her mouth causing her to crinkle her nose.

"No not just that. I don't want your cooties." He said, sounding like a little kid. She laughed and tugged on his ponytail. He moved further away and glared at her before cracking a grin. They grew silent. She felt a sudden dread in her stomach, hot and sad.

"What do you think happened?" She asked. He shrugged after a moment, smoking and pushing a pebble around with his foot.

"Anything. They could have been ambushed. They could have walked into a trap. Worse comes to worse they met up with Akatsuki unexpectedly." He muttered. The latter made Sakura's stomach drop. Akatsuki were still actively searching for all the Jinchuuriki. This made her feel worse. Her heart sped up a little.

"Naruto would have gotten away. He wouldn't let them take him. There's no way." She muttered, almost to herself. She felt a hand squeeze her shoulder.

"Don't be worried too much Sakura. Naruto's strong. A bit of a baka at times, but he's got a good head on his shoulders." She wished that his words would take away the pinching feeling in her heart. She knew what he was saying was true; she just couldn't shake the terrifying feeling she had. What Shikamaru was saying wasn't an open opinion about whether Naruto made it or not. He was leaving it open because he himself didn't want to get her hopes up. She got up and turned to him putting her arms around him in a hug.

"Thanks, Shikamaru." She pressed her cheek against his chest. She could feel him stiffen and pat his hand on her back awkwardly before struggling to break free.

"All right, all right. That's enough of that." He broke free and fixed his vest, flicking his finished cigarette away. Sakura laughed a little at his reaction. "Too close."

She laughed and raised her foot kick him, which he easily dodged. "We should probably get back." He nodded and walked ahead her, keeping a safe distance from her boots. She shook her head smiling. Her smiled dropped a moment later when her brain wander back to the matter at hand. All she could do was hope. Hope he was still alive. Even if he'd hit his head and wandering aimlessly not knowing who he was, she'd be happy just knowing he wasn't dead.

0

Running on two hours of sleep wasn't the smartest thing in the world. Especially hopping from tree to tree. Sakura could barely keep her eyes open when they finally made it to the hidden Frost Village a day later. They weren't staying long, just long enough to ask if anyone had seen Naruto and any of his companions, and to gather some supplies. Shikamaru was lounging on a bench somewhere in the town and she was walking around looking for an herbal stand for make quick fix medicines. It was a cloudy day and chilly, and she wished she'd remembered to pack a heavier jacket. Just as she found a little stand with an assortment of herbs for medicine she felt a familiar chakra spike behind her.

"Yo." She said, glancing over her shoulder at her former sensei. He looked downright surprised. She chuckled and paid the old woman for her herbs and turned around.

"Kakashi-sensei, don't look so surprised. After all when you don't mask your chakra it's pretty distinctive. Powerful, laced with pervert." She grinned.

"Now, now, Sakura-chan. Pervert? I wouldn't say pervert. It's just a light read that I enjoy every so often." He scratched the back of his head, tucking his opened book behind his back. She cocked an eyebrow and shook her head moving to a bench to put her wares into her backpack.

"I'm sure Kakashi-senpai." She then grew a serious look on her face before hefting her backpack onto her back. "Did you find anything out? Has anyone seen anything?"

He shook his head. "When I showed some of their pictures to people in the town they either rebuffed me telling me to bugger off or they had no idea." He shrugged.  
"We're just going to have to continue on our way to Kumo I think."

Sakura frowned. There had to be _someone_ who had seen something. How can you not remember Naruto's bright orange clothes or striking blonde hair? She started walking towards town with Kakashi in tow when a playful voice made her stop in her tracks.

"Sakura?" Kakashi questioned, when she stopped suddenly. He looked at her and followed her train of sight over to a group of kids playing with some bouncy balls.

"Rasengan!" One of the kids shouted before tossing the ball from his hand at a tree stump. The other kids were doing the same, laughing and throwing the balls at each while yelling the same yell.

"Sakura!" He started when he saw her rush over to them. He followed after her and watched as she bent down to one of the kids.

"Excuse me, where did you learn that ninja move?" She asked, squatting down next to a gray haired kid. The said kid turned towards her and tossed the ball up and down in his hand.

"Who wants to know?" He said, giving off a tough persona. Kakashi stopped behind Sakura and noticed the other kids stopping what they were doing and coming over to see what the pause in fun was about.

"Aww, you can call me Sakura-oneechan if you want. I was just wondering because I have a good friend who can use the same technique as that. I was hoping you maybe had seen him? Me and my friends were looking for him." She smiled sweetly, spewing off a boatload of charm. The kid looked at her and then Kakashi skeptically before glancing at their head protectors and a gleam of recognition went through his eyes.

"Hey guys! Look! They have the same symbol on their head protectors as, Naruto-niisama!" Sakura felt her heart skip a beat at the name mentioned. Kakashi could feel her chakra go out of whack at the news. He put a hand on her shoulder.

"Tell us, when did you meet this Naruto?" He asked, pulling Sakura to stand up next to him. He glanced at her and noticed that her eyes were wide and her skin was on the pale side. She was breathing slightly heavier than normal.

"Mmmmm I wanna say it was like Wednesday or something? Right guys?" They all nodded. "Yeah it was last week when we had our summer festival. He was all banged up and obaa-sama took care of him until he was better. He taught all of us this neat trick! Watch!" The kid stepped back and held the ball in his hand and pretended to charge up chakra and then threw the ball at the tree stump. "Rasengan!" All the kids cheered and proceeded to do the same.

"That's a pretty awesome move. Tell me, do you know where Naruto-niisama went to?" Sakura asked coming back to her senses.

"He left the day before yesterday. Not sure where he went. He said that he had to take care of some pretty bad people. He wanted to keep us safe he said. He went that way out of the village." The kid pointed towards the west side of the village. Sakura knelt down again and ruffled the kid's hair and from somewhere held out enough candy suckers for all the kids. They all cheered and came in to get their own piece. When they all resumed their pretend ninjustu training, Sakura stood up and turned to Kakashi.

"What?" She asked when she saw his surprised look at the candy. "I'm a doctor. Gotta be ready and loaded with candy when needed." She stated as if that was a normal thing to have on a person. She grew serious then. "He was here, Kakashi. ANBU said that the Raikage never heard from them after two days... and we didn't receive word they were missing until last Monday. But somehow he ended up here a couple days after." She paused. "He headed towards Sound." She stated. But she knew he already knew that.

"Let's get everyone together and move out." Kakashi said, disappearing in a sudden poof of smoke.

Sakura took a step, pumping chakra to her feet and took off. 'What are you doing Naruto? Who are you going after?'

0

They had just entered the northern border of Rice country when, of course, they were ambushed by a small group of Sound shinobi. Sakura dropped down out of the trees and through a quick chakra laced punched into the gut of one unlucky ninja, sending him spiraling into a tree. She stepped back and kicked a kunai thrown at her from behind before sending one back in the direction it came from. It was easily deflected by her opponent. She dove into the brush next to her and grabbed a large rock as large as her torso and was just about to throw it at the sound ninja attacking her when she was kicked from behind. The boulder fell as she fought to regain her traction.

"Ugh." She grimaced. She breathed in and confirmed her suspicions. 'Broken ribs…awesome.' Forming a few quick hand seals she created a diamond shape with her hand and sent a force of genjutsu chakra at the leering sound ninja in front of her. Luckily, it hit him square in the forehead, causing him to stiffen up as a board and fall backwards, unconscious in his own dream world.

"Sakura!" Shikamaru yelled, landing next to her and holding her up. "We gotta move out of here. Kakashi and the other jounin too have led the other sound ninja away from here. Kakashi told me to take you and keep going." Sakura nodded and hooked her arm around his shoulders and they bounded off away from the scene.

"We should have expected something like this to happen. I just didn't expect it to happen so soon. It was like they were…"

"…Expecting us." Sakura finished.

"Aa." Shikarmaru agreed. When they were a good far distance away from where they'd been ambushed she pleaded with Shikamaru to stop for a moment.

"I have to heal my ribs. I can't breathe." She said, huffing and sitting down against a tree.

"Hurry up. We can't dawdle for long. Anyone could be coming after us." He stated, sounding impatient which was rather unlike Shikamaru. Sakura sat for a moment and tried to figure out where they were. They had been heading west and then were heading south towards the sound village. She could hear birds chirping and the distant sound of waves of the ocean—

'Wait a minute…' Quickly grabbing a senbon from her pack she flung it towards Shikamaru, hitting her mark right between his eyes. He fell back and hit the ground and didn't move after that. She got up the best she could, using the tree for support before walking over to his body. Sure enough; she watched as Shikamaru's person began to shift and fade out before turning into a sound ninja she didn't recognize.

'I should have noticed sooner. Kakashi would never tell us to separate. This guy was taking me further north towards the ocean. How come?' She grimaced and began healing her ribs, feeling a little nauseous at the sound of her bones reconnecting. When she felt she could breathe again she headed back the way they came.

It was strange they were attacked so suddenly. They definitely knew that Kakashi and his team were coming. Which probably means that they've been shadowed probably all the way from when they left Konoha. 'But why was he taking me towards the ocean? Isn't the sound village towards the south of the rice country's border?'

"Sakura!" Finally a familiar voice. Kakashi appeared beneath her in a tree clearing, standing with the REAL Shikamaru. Well she would have to check about that first. She jumped down landing a good distance from them. She immediately moved into a defensive position and held a kunai out in front of her.

"If you are who I think you are, what volume of Icha Icha Paradise are you reading at the moment?" How she knew what volume he was reading and why she actually knew what volume she was reading was beyond her. It's the little things she needed to be aware of she supposed.

"Special Edition Volume 56…with pictures." Kakashi answered without a beat. Shikamaru next to him looked beyond annoyed. He was holding his arm, blood seeping through his clothes and fingers.

"Good. Sorry, just had to make sure." She could recognize Shikamaru's chakra, but Kakashi shielded his chakra as a precaution no matter what. "A sound ninja who took on the shape of Shikamaru took off with me until I realized that it wasn't the real one a good ways north of here."

"He looked like me? What did you do?" He asked, shifting to sit when she walked over to check out his wound.

"Put a senbon between his eyes." She said, pumping healing chakra into his arm.

"Maaaan, don't ever let me get on your bad side, Sakura." He drawled looking at Kakashi. Kakashi on the other hand was looking at Sakura with a questioning gaze.

"You said north of here?" He asked.

She nodded. "Yes, we were almost at the coast. I have no idea why he brought me in that direction considering the hidden Sound Village is near the south border." She said, finishing up on Shikamaru's arm. Just then the rest of their squad leapt down from the treetops.

"Kakashi-san. There's no one else suspicious in the area. Whoever we didn't kill, fled in all directions so who's to say where they went." Rika stated. Sakura noticed that she had a cut on her cheek. The other four jounin that were along with them were pretty banged up as well. "What the hell was that ambush, Kakashi-san? It's like they knew we were waiting for us."

"Mhm. It is certainly strange, indeed." He answered, resting a hand on his chin, in contemplation. "Sakura-san here had the opportunity be in the presence of a sound shinobi and he was taking her towards the northern shore. Something tells me that there's something out there, something big is at work." Sakura felt the same. "Let's all get healed up by Sakura and rest for the night. I have a feeling we're going to be needing our full chakra in the coming days."

Sakura frowned. Something big was definitely happen. What it was, she had no idea but her gut was telling her it wasn't good. She hated that they were getting off track from finding Naruto.

Sakura was sitting high up in a tree that night, watching the clouds drift by, covering the moon every so often. She wanted to be away from everyone else. After healing everyone, including a grumbling Rika, she felt a little on the drained side and her ribs were still aching a bit. She closed her eyes and drifted a little trying to clear her mind.

She felt lost. She hated feeling lost. She always had to have everything planned out and laid out before her. Not knowing where she was going or what she was looking for didn't sit well with her. It made her confused and just downright frustrated. Everyone was sleeping below her, thankfully. She wasn't sure she could handle any more annoyances from Rika. Kakashi suddenly landed on the branch was perched, actually startling her.

"You scared me," She frowned. "I could have knocked you flat if I didn't recognize that silver hair of yours."

"My my, someone's a little grumpy this evening." He pushed, crouching at her feet. At the grumpy comment she grumbled, giving his arm a shove with her foot.

"What are we doing tomorrow? Where are we going?" She asked, settling her feet back down.

"I for once am at a loss. It takes a lot for me to be out of the loop of things." He sighed, showing a rare vulnerability to him. She watched him scratch his head and spare a yawn beneath his mask. "I think we should head to the coast. I'm not sure why, but what you said, with the sound ninja leading you towards the ocean makes me wonder if we're entering a new enemies territory."

"A new enemy? What do you know Kakashi?" She leaned forward. She had the feeling that he knew more than what he was leading on.

"Tsunade-sama has been receiving some new intelligence that the Village Hidden in Sound has all but abandoned all of their underground bunkers and moved more north. We have no idea why but we keep hearing the name Kisho mentioned over and over again. We're thinking a person or a group have started to acquire Sound Ninja into their new faction." He explained.

"When did you find this out?" She asked, suddenly at alert attention.

"About a month ago. Naruto was sent out with his team to check with Kumo if they'd heard or seen anything out of the ordinary concerning all this new development." He answered, glancing at her before tipping his head down and rubbing the back of his neck, tiredly.

'Naruto could be anywhere at this point. He must have come across something really big. Oh man… You'd better be ok, you buffoon!'

"Are you sure we should be doing that, Senpai? Naruto may not even be anywhere near here." She said.

"Well, either we keep running in circles looking for any sign of Naruto, or we head north in hopes that he possibly found something out and is unable to reach us." He said, finally looking over at her. Sakura pondered for a moment before nodding. "Naruto will be all right. I know my student and you know your friend. It will take a lot to do him in."

Sakura sat back against the tree again. "We still need to find the site where the killings happened."

"Tomorrow." He stated in agreement with a nod. With that he patted her on the head, causing her to frown, and then jumped over into another tree for first watch for the night.

0

It was dank and musty where he was. At least, that's what he could get from the smell. He was blindfolded and no amount of chakra he tried to muster up, he couldn't burn off the fabric or even break the chains holding him up. One minute he was walking along the north shore and the next the earth had opened up like a giant crushing maw, engulfing him. He was falling and falling until the ground met up with him too quick for him to stop himself before fainting into complete darkness. Now, here he was shackled with his arms raised above his head and blindfolded. He felt helpless. Naked almost. His chakra was gone, or at least blocked off. Who could do that besides the Hyuuga's? Footsteps were heard just then, setting off alarm bells in his head. The door to wherever he was clanked and then groaned opened.

"Well well…I see the mighty has finally fallen." The voice was almost sweet sounding. Charming. "Uzumaki Naruto. You know it's taken me quite a long time to be where I am now and almost twice as long for me to finally have you in my presence. You're a pesky person to try and get a hold of." Naruto grimaced and tried pull on his restraints again, to no avail.

"Look, creep. I don't know who you are or what you want, but you better fucking let me out of here before I bust your brains in!" He snarled, pulling again as hard as he could on his wrist chains.

"Don't struggle too much, my little Jinchuuriki." Came the silky voice again followed by a chuckle. At the mentioning of that word, Naruto when still and felt the blood rush from his face.

"I'm not your anything, you slime ball. I don't know what you're talking about!" He snarled. He could feel a cold sweat start to bead up on his exposed chest.

"Au contraire, my blond shinobi. You know exactly what I am talking about. I've researched a lot about you. So far, you're the jinchuuriki that has been the hardest to catch. The others…not so much. They gave in right away." Slime ball man let out a barking laugh. Naruto felt himself losing breath. He was panicking.

"What the fuck do you want?!" He yelled.

"Well. The nine-tailed fox of course. And by the time I am done with you, you'll be gladly handing it over to me." The man said. A moment passed and Naruto heard some footsteps enter the room.

"Sir. Shall we begin the first extraction?" Came a grumbly voice.

"Ah yes. We'll have to do this in parts I'm afraid, Naruto-kun. You see, the nine-tailed fox is so massive that we'll have to do this in sections. Now, I'm sure you're wondering why I'm doing this."

Naruto didn't say anything. His throat had gone dry with his hyperventilating. He pulled at his restraints again and felt himself grow weaker by the second.

"Nothing to say still? Well, have it your way. I'm doing this…" The man asked, walking over and running a hand down Naruto's face before gripping his jaw tightly. Naruto felt this man's face come close to his ear before speaking.

"…Because why not?" His breath was hot against Naruto's cheek and his grip was just as strong. Naruto struggled to get his head out of the man's grip. The man cackled and snapped Naruto's head away from his before walking away.

"Begin the first extraction!"

Before Naruto knew what was happening a surge of electricity shot down his chains from the ceiling and entered his body. He could only see purple flashes as his body seized beyond control and could make out the man's horrible laughs and what he would later realize were his screams as he felt pain so intense it was as if his body being torn apart from the inside, out.

0

* * *

Well. I guess I'll leave that there? Hopefully I'll make an update within the next couple of weeks. Comments, reviews, constructive criticism are always welcomed. Flamers can click back and continue on with their lovely days :D


	3. Chapter 3

**Hope**

3

 **" _Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness."_**

 ** _\- Desmond Tutu_**

* * *

They didn't find the fields where the massacre happened—it found them. At least the smell did. And the birds. So many birds. Sakura held a sleeve to her mouth and nose to quell the stench the best she could, but the smell was already burned into her nostrils. She could hear a gasp and then retching from behind her and she glanced over her shoulder to see Rika leaning over and losing her breakfast. As much as Sakura wanted to do the same she couldn't do it. She'd smelled worse, if there was actually anything worse than decaying flesh. The other jounin with them, including Shikarmaru were looking around with a green tint to their faces. Kakashi held a hand to his face as, his mask not enough to keep it all out. The crows and vultures were feasting on torn appendages and torso's scattered about. She began to walk around, Kakashi a step or two behind her, and came across a hitae. She knelt down and picked it up. It was crusted and spattered with blood and scratches. She felt a lump form in her throat. This was horrible. These shinobi never deserved a death like this. This was not a glorifying death they experienced. It was quick, yet painful. She stood and clenched the piece of metal in her hand. She vowed then and there that she would find the bastards that did this and kill them with her own hands. A hand rested on her shoulder and she knew it was Kakashi.

"We should collect any or all of the hitae we find. We need to take them back to the village for a proper funeral and to return them to their families." She said, trying to not let the lump in her throat break. Kakashi didn't answer her so she moved forward and continued searching. "I'm going to look for some clues. If there's anything that might lead us to whoever did this, then we need to look."

She didn't wait for an answer and continued on her way threw the rubble. Every step she took there were more and more body parts. From what she could see it was like Kakashi had said. Everyone had been torn apart. Forcefully. They had no chance to get away from whatever or whoever did this. She found two more head protectors and was kneeling to pick up the fourth when something caught her eye. Stuck into a mangled tree, she saw a kunai pinning something down. Her breath caught in her throat and she rushed over. Blowing in the wind was a sun-bleached piece of fabric, having seen better days. It was frayed as if torn off purposely. She reached up and ripped it from the kunai and flipped it over looking at it. It was bright orange on the side the sun didn't touch. Her heart skipped a beat. 'Naruto.' She glanced up at the kunai and saw an arrow etched underneath it. It was pointing away from the field, to the north. "K-Kakashi!" She yelled. He appeared at her side in a split second. She held the cloth up to him and pointed to the arrow.

"Naruto was here. Either he left it here after all this or he came back because he knew someone would see this." She said, speaking so fast, she bit her tongue. The irony taste filled her mouth and she swallowed. She saw Kakashi bite his thumb before forming hand seals.

"Summoning Jutsu!" He called. A poof sounded and a small pug appeared at their feet.

"Yoooooo….." Pakkun started before flopping over and lying still with swirly eyes.

"We gotta move him. His smell senses are going into overdrive with everything here." Kakashi said, scooping up the small dog and darting off. Sakura turned towards the others and nodded to Shikamaru.

"We'll be right back. Tell Rika to breathe through her mouth!" She called, noticing the black haired jounin retching once again, before running off after her former teacher.

They'd stopped in a clearing at least a mile, mile and a half away from the group. There was a pond and Kakakshi stepped in it reaching down and splashing some water onto the dog's snout. It worked and a moment later Pakkun was awake.

"What the heck was that horrible smell? I've never been knocked out before like that." The dog questioned, shaking excess water from his fur.

"Dead bodies. Fellow comrades were taken out back there and we need to find Naruto. We're pretty sure he's the only one that survived." Kakashi said, kneeling down next to the mutt. "Sakura?" He asked, motioning towards the scrap of fabric.

Sakura moved forward and held out the scrap to Pakkun. "We're pretty sure this is from Naruto. We're not sure when it was placed there, we just need to find him. Please Pakkun." She said, scratching the top of the dog's head. Briefly Pakkun's back leg started to kick at the touch.

"All right, all right. You had me at your pretty face, Sakura-chan." Pakkun drawled giving her hand a lick. He moved over and leaned his face into the fabric and inhaled deeply. Sakura moved her hand away and waited for the canine to act.

"Hmm….I'm getting the kid's scent from all directions but it's the strongest opposite of the direction we came from." Pakkun answered, giving a nod to Kakashi. Sakura looked behind her and over the pond.

"Everything is leading us North, Kakashi. It's obvious he headed in that direction. It would be too much of a coincidence that the Sound Ninja, that was leading me towards the ocean, wasn't doing that without reason." She said, trying to stop the urge to run like a crazy woman towards the ocean.

"It would definitely seem that way. Pakkun. Will you track ahead of us and wait when you reach the shore? We'll meet up in an hour after we go through the field." Kakashi asked. Pakkun nodded.

"Sure. Why not. I wasn't enjoying a nice nap in the sunshine or anything. But if it's for the kid, anything." The dog sighed and then bounded off out of the trees.

"Let's head back quick and gather what we can and then head north." Kakashi said, watching the dog disappear into the trees. Sakura nodded and they darted back towards the others.

When they broke through the tree line, they spotted Shikamaru waving to them towards the center of the broken rubble. Leaping over broken earth, which was jutting out to the sky, they landed next to him and the other three. She walked up next to her friend when she noticed something out of the ordinary sticking out the ground.

"Is that a katana?" She asked.

"Yeah. Kind of a rare weapon to be used by a shinobi." Shikamaru drawled.

Sakura looked the sword. It was definitely out of place. Kunai and shuriken were scattered in abundance around the area, but a sword was rarely seen or even used as a weapon. It was cumbersome and clunky to some. Suddenly a flash when through her mind—a memory from years long ago when she'd first seen a katana this size. Black hair, pale skin…and swirling red eyes, boring into her very soul.

"Sasuke." She mouthed, her breath leaving her body entirely. Kakashi caught her when she stumbled.

"Sasuke?" He asked, holding her, letting her catch her breath. She nodded.

"Yes…I recognize it from the first time Naruto and I raided the bunker he was in and he attacked us. He had a long katana." She paused looking at the blade. Shikamaru walked over and cautiously grabbed it before yanking it from the group. It was at least 5 feet long. "There's an Uchiha insignia engraved on the right side of the blade near the hilt."

Shikamaru looked down at it and turned it to the right side and sure enough. The insignia glinted in the sunlight, blinding her for a moment.

"What does this mean, Kakashi-san?" The sandy haired ninja, named Taigo asked.

Kakashi looked down at Sakura next to him and then at the katana. "It means, we have a lot of questions and no answers right now. We're dealing with something much bigger than the Hokage originally stated. For now, Shikamaru. Wrap up the sword. We need to meet up with my dog summon. He caught onto Naruto's trail heading towards the shore. Sakura, get yourself back into sorts. We need to you on the ball as the medic-nin." He propped her up and turned to the rest of the group. "Taigo, send this message with a messenger bird to the Hokage." He quickly scrawled out a note on a slip of paper. "She needs to know what's going on. As for all of us? We move out. Now."

Sakura didn't know what was even moving her body. She was on auto run mode. She was in shock and she needed to get out of it. Nothing should surprise her anymore but this certainly did. 'What was Sasuke doing here? There's no way he could have caused this amount of destruction. It wasn't his style and he just wasn't capable, no matter what kind of Sharingan he had now, he couldn't do this. Could he? 'When has my life become a question everything life?' She didn't like any of this. Nothing was making any sense anymore. Could have Naruto and Sasuke fought? No. Nothing about this place seemed to have been done with a couple of shinobi duking it out over lost friendships and loyalties.

"Sakura." Shikamaru was next to her, grabbing her arm and pulling her to follow him. She clutched all the hitae in her hands tighter, glancing at the unturned earth where the katana had been stuck, before closing her eyes and running after her group.

* * *

"Tsunade-sama!" Came a shout from the hallway, outside her closed office door. She glared at the door, looking up from the medical transcript she was going over.

"I'm busy! Can it wait?" She yelled while eyeing her sake cup and wishing it were full. She'd been staring at medical documents after medical documents, hoping to find something of worth in helping a fungal infection in the lungs in one of her patients.

"I'm sorry, my lady. We have news, from Kakashi-senpai." Came Shizune's voice. That peaked Tsunade's attention.

"Come in." She put her papers down and filled her sake up, throwing the drink back and loving the burn it made on her throat. Shizune stepped in and walked to the front of her desk, holding piece of paper. "When did this come in?" She asked taking the note.

"Just now. His messenger hawk flew in before dispelling." Shizune stated, standing to attention.

"Relax Shizune. I'm sure it's nothing bad. Just his usual drawling's about the weather and how he wants the new edition of that terrible book series." She shook her head and unrolled the small scroll. What she read sent shivers down her spine. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.

" _The fox is still sly,_

 _The young snake's slithering,_

 _The moon shows its face."_

She took a deep breath. "Kakashi and his haiku's." She shook her head, feeling troubled and handing the paper to her advisor. Shizune read it and looked up at her shishou.

"What does it mean?" She asked, re-reading the message.

Tsunade propped her elbows onto the table and laced he fingers, resting them beneath her nose. "It means…Naruto is alive…and Uchiha Sasuke has made an appearance…and the moon showing its face means we have a new enemy."

"How could any of that possibly mean all of that?" Shizune questioned, completely stumped.

"Over the years, we've created a coding system with words. It's to try and bypass anyone who's not supposed to read these messages. Shizune!" Tsunade explained before standing up and slamming her hands on the desk.

"Hai! Hokage-sama!" Shizune jumped, standing to attention.

"Gather all available Jounin and ANBU and send them to the northern border of Rice Country! They're going to need all the help they can get." Tsunade listened to her own words, wondering what this sour feeling was deep in her stomach. She knew something was wrong 'Why were they heading north? And why was the Uchiha boy suddenly making an appearance after so many years of hiding?'. She watched as Shizune nodded and ran from the room. Tsunade turned towards the windows, watching the lazy clouds roll by, ignoring the tormenting itch of wanting to jump to action herself and be in the field with her fellow shinobi. For now, this was all she could do. Wait.

* * *

"…kun…"

'Huh?' Naruto was in darkness. He couldn't feel anything…only a humming sound was in his ears. 'What's…. going on…?'

"…N'uto-kuuuuun…" A voice was calling to him. A suddenly jolt of pain racked his body and he seized slightly, screaming out when the pain reached his head. 'What's…. happening…' Faintly, and barely, Naruto felt something connect with his face and his head snapped to the left, sending another rack of shocking pain down his spine. He could taste blood in his mouth.

"Come on now, Naruto-kun. Wake up and let me see those pretty blue eyes of yours." A slimy voice weaved itself through Naruto's head.

"Sh-shiiit…" He ground out; his body completely slack and drained of any energy. A hand grabbed his hair and yanked his head up and he willed his eyes to open.

"There they are! Oh dear, they do look a bit dull in luster. Perhaps we did too much at one time." The man in front of him pondered sardonically. Naruto's vision was going in and out of focus, but he could still catch a glint of pearly white teeth flashing in the light. Naruto spat the blood that had pooled in his mouth from being slapped earlier into the smug face of his captor. The man recoiled in disgust and let Naruto's head go and backed away.

"You disgusting vermin! How dare you!?" He screamed, rubbing the mixture of saliva and blood off his face.

"Kisho-sama!" Someone behind the flailing man called. They came running up to their master and handed him a towel and a bowl of water. The man name Kisho took the water and dumped it on his face, shaking his head violently, with water flinging everywhere. If Naruto could move his muscles to smirk he would have. When Kisho was done he was breathing heavily. He turned back to Naruto and was in front of him in a blink of an eye.

"Bastard…your blood is disgusting." He snarled, reaching his arm back and punching Naruto in the eye. Lights and stars exploded across Naruto's vision and he blacked out for a moment. "Do you want to really know why I want the Kyuubi? Huh? Because I hate you! I hate all of you jinchuuriki! Your kind has taken away my entire life!" He punched Naruto again added with a solid kick to his gut. Naruto yelled as pain exploded from his stomach all the way to his fingertips. He whimpered. There was nothing he could do.

"You, the demons within all of you wretched beings, have no place in this world. You are monsters." Kisho seethed. Naruto couldn't lift his head. He only listened. The humming was back and he could hear the dull thrums of his heartbeat. He could hear Kisho moving away, still breathing heavily.

"Sir. We need to begin the third extraction." Said a voice near the doorway. Naruto spat more blood from his mouth. His eyes were swelling shut due to the blows Kisho inflicted on him. Kisho evened his breathing out and took a large inhale of air before exhaling evenly. He looked down at Naruto and smirked.

"You'll have to excuse my little, explosion there, Naruto-kun. I let my emotions get the better of me. I promise you. That won't happen again." He said, tying his hair back into a low ponytail. "When I have the Kyuubi, you'll be nothing but a husk. Sorry. You have such lovely skin…but you're going to die, so I can live." He let out a small laugh, then a chortle, ending with an echoing cackle as he left the room.

"N—no..!" Naruto mustered, trying to yell. He heard a pair of footsteps and then a large levered switch being flipped and then the electricity and pain once again, his screams tearing at his throat.

* * *

When Sakura finally broke through the tree line she landed on the rocky cliff edge, the sea crashing into the jagged rocks before her. Rika landed next to her, still looking greener than a grasshopper.

"Are you going to be okay, Rika-san?" She stepped towards the green coloured girl, when Rika stuck her hand up.

"I'll be fine." She snapped, looking away and breathing deeply. Sakura rolled her eyes and shrugged. She turned away and headed towards Shikamaru, who was sitting on rock jutting from the ground. He was sitting with his legs bent and crossed with his eyes closed and his hands in a relaxed hand seal. He was meditating.

"Meditating? At a time like this?" She asked trying to sound like she was joking but deep down she wanted to smack him for taking this time to just sit.

"Hn. It's not normal meditation. I've been able to manipulate more of my mind's chakra into my shadow jutsu. In essence, I'm able to see what my shadow is seeing." He stated as a matter of factly.

"What? How come you never told me this before, Shikamaru?! This is amazing!" She stated. It really was! As far as she knew no one, not even Shikamaru's father Shikaku was able to do anything of the sort before. "It's almost like Ino's ability." She thought of her friend, and the blonde's family trait of Mind Transferring. "How did you even think to do this?"

"I was on a recon mission a couple months ago and I was stuck in a tedious situation where I couldn't see the brigands who were tailing us from behind a building. I would have gone around the corner to see for myself, but every time I tried to I would see them throwing exploding kunai at us." He cocked his head a little. He was seeing something. "At the time I had my eyes closed and I just focused on everything I had seen from around the corner and I sent out my shadow, and released parts of my eye's chakra with it. I have no idea why I never thought to do this before." He continued. He tensed up and then relaxed. He opened his eyes and looked at her, setting his hands on his knees.

"What did you see?" She asked, hoping, just hoping that something was near where they were.

"Nothing. The cliff face is as jagged and wind worn. Couple of bird's nests but other than that nothing." He said, shaking his head. Sakura sighed and patted him on the shoulder.

"You realize you have to tell Tsunade about this cool new trick of yours when we get home, right?" She said. "It's a beyond amazing new revelation with the Shadow Jutsu."

"Yeah, yeah. I was hoping no one would say anything. Just too annoying to have to give all the details." He said, lighting a cigarette. Sakura looked up and found Kakashi further along the cliff edge, his head hunched down as he listened to Pakkun. She took a bounding leap and made her way over.

"…Gotcha. I'll be back when I give Tsunade-sama the word." She watched Pakkun nod at him and then at her before poofing away in a puff of smoke. Kakashi straightened up and looked behind his shoulder at her.

"There's nothing here." He said, glancing around him. He was right. There wasn't anything here. Just a raggedy shoreline with driftwood scattered everywhere. It looked like it was going to rain. Storm clouds were rolling towards them on the ocean, looking as mean as a wet cat. She could smell the rain before it was even here. It was going to get nasty before too long. Kakashi seemed to be thinking the same thing. "Let's find some shelter before we all get water-logged."

Sakura nodded. "Shikamaru was checking the side face of the cliff over the sides and didn't see anything other than birds and bird nests. He has a new enhanced part of his shadow clone. He can manipulate his mind's chakra into his shadow and see around objects. He just told me about it."

"Hm…that's interesting. Tsunade will be interested in hearing about this." He mumbled. He looked tired, his visible eye creasing in the corners.

"I'm going to go further down a few ways. I want to look for some medicinal herbs, if there is any." She said, putting a hand on his shoulder in confirmation.

"Be back soon. I don't want to look for you in the storm that's coming in…it'll get my book wet." He sighed and turned and looked away. She smiled and shook her head. She needed some time to think. She jumped down a small ledge and landed in some sea grass and walked towards some bushes that had some white blossoms on them. She held the delicate flowers in her fingers, examining them, but before long she wasn't even seeing them. She closed her eyes when a rush of wind flew against her. 'Naruto… It's never been this hard to find you before. You're usually out in the open shouting about a new jutsu or about how you were about to knock someone flat when they insulted Ichiraku Ramen. What's happened to you?'

She dropped the flowered branch before continuing on her way. She came to the edge of the cliff. Without really thinking about it she started her way down the side, climbing carefully and gripping to rocks and ledges with chakra infused hands and feet. She almost fell when she startled a bird, nesting on top of its eggs, which in turn startled her, and she slipped a little. She pumped chakra into her fingers and caught onto a ledge further down from her. She could feel her fingers throbbing; they were probably raw with scratches and cuts from the slate. She could feel a shift in the atmosphere as she neared the bottom. The storm was coming fast and she berated herself for doing whatever she was doing at the moment. Why she was going down here was beyond her.

Just as she neared the bottom the rocks under her right foot crumbled and she was falling backwards before she could get a grip onto anything. She landed, rather unceremoniously, on her butt and with that she chose to lie in a heap of embarrassment. 'Yep. I am definitely rusty and out of shape.' She shook her head and stood up, ignoring the ache in her tailbone. She brushed the sand off her butt, laughing at herself a little. There were broken shells and debris littered all over the beach. Luckily she'd missed landing on anything sharp. She made her way down the small sand strip, almost enjoying the sounds of the tide coming in and out. Had it been sunny and actually warm that day or if she wasn't on a rescue mission, she might have slipped of her sandals and wade in a few feet to feel the water. She suddenly remembered a small mission that Team 7 had been assigned to the Tea Country.

 _The mission was to find a mission person named Kiro, which in the end turned up to actually be a dog name Kiro and it's owner was devastated when he'd run away. Their client had failed to mention that in the beginning and they would have been done with the mission sooner if they knew that they weren't looking for a person. The poor thing had been found in a warehouse full of stolen goods and after fighting off a few baddies; they'd managed to coax the dog out and brought him home to its elated owner. When that had been finished they still had about 2 days left to do whatever they'd wanted._

 _That afternoon, Naruto had decided that he wanted to find a ramen shop, Kakashi wanted to scope out a bookstore they'd seen when they'd entered the fishing village, and Sasuke went off to only he knew where. When they'd all separated and went their respective ways, Sakura huffed and pouted for a while at being left alone._

Sakura chuckled to herself, remembering how she'd always be left out constantly when she was with her testosterone run team.

 _After a couple of minutes of pouting she decided she'd go to the beach._

 _The surf was low and relaxed and there were few beachgoers at the time so she felt it was a perfect place for her to enjoy herself as much as she could. She smiled and took her shoes off, placing them next to her backpack and waded about knee deep into the ocean. It was so warm. She continued up the beach for a while and before she knew it, an hour had past. She heard some calling from behind her and she turned around and saw her teammates and sensei waving at her. Naruto was waving adamantly, Sasuke standing in his usual pose, his hands forever stuck inside his pockets and Kakashi was grinning from beneath his mask, holding was looked like a new copy of his favorite book series. She waved back._

" _Come on it guys! The water is great!" She called, kicking up water with her foot. Naruto pumped into action and began running down towards her, kicking off his sandals and rolling his jumpsuit pants up as he went. At the same time, Kakashi was seen giving Sasuke a shove towards them as well and the latter turned and gave him a look before sighing and walking towards them. As Naruto grew closer to her she had the sudden realization of what he was planning on doing._

" _Naruto! Don't even think about it!" She yelled, moving naturally into a defensive position. He didn't stop, and just as he was jumping to tackle her, she moved to the side and he belly flopped right into the water._

" _Gah! Sakura-chan!" He sputtered, spitting water out and standing up. She was laughing at him. Seeing him in front of her with his hair plastered to his face and seaweed crowning his head, she couldn't help but laugh at him._

" _Oi!" He yelled, getting a little miffed. He reached down and slapped a wave of water in her direction, drenching her. She coughed and sputtered, having been knocked over into the water about waist deep._

" _NA—RU—TOOOOOOOOO!" She shrieked getting up and sending a larger chakra enhanced wave towards him. He leaped out of the way and ran towards Sasuke who grew wide-eyed, as Naruto got closer to him._

" _Teme! Don't do it—" he started only to be thwarted uncharacteristically and was picked up and launched towards the water. Sakura watched in awe as her crush flew past her and landed in the water. He sputtered when he surfaced and sent a terrifying glare at the blond._

" _Come on, Sasuke! Have some fun. Think of this as a vacation!" Naruto challenged playfully, sporting his usual grin._

" _I'll kill you…" Sasuke grumble and made hand seals and muttered a jutsu under his breath. A small whirlpool started spinning under Naruto's feet and proceeded to suck him into the sand. Sakura busted out laughing when all that was left sticking out the water were his head and shoulders._

" _Hey! Teme! You just wait until I get out of this!" Naruto yelled, wiggling back and forth trying to work his way out. Sakura took this chance to splash Naruto in the face. She laughed and Sasuke let out a rare chuckle before sending a splash her way. She squealed and covered her face with her arms._

" _Nyahaha!" Naruto cackled, finally getting free of his sand prison. He stood up and launched water at both his teammates. In those shared minutes of all around fun, they weren't shinobi. They weren't students, learning a way of life in which they could very well die at any given moment. They were normal, 13 year old kids; friends just having a good old splash fight. They were having a blast. This was a day Sakura would never forget._

 _Later that afternoon, when they'd all grown tired, Sakura sat herself down on the beach and just took in the sounds of the surf and the sunset warming her face. She hugged her knees to herself. She could live like this. She could give up the life of kunoichi and be beach bum forever. She felt so free here. There was no one to fear, no missions to partake in…_

" _Sakura-chan…" Came a voice from her right. She looked over and saw Naruto standing a few feet away. She noticed that his jumpsuit pants were still rolled up and there was sand coating his legs. She smiled and tucked her hair behind her ear._

" _Where are the others?" She asked, standing up and finding herself entranced with his blue eyes. The orange and fuchsia of the sunset were reflecting in them, giving his eyes an almost electric blue colour. He stared back her for a moment before coming to and grinning._

" _Kakashi-sensei asked me to come get you. We're going to go get something to eat and then head back to the in for sleep. Back home to Konoha tomorrow." He said, scratching the back of his head._

 _Sakura wasn't ready to go back yet. It was rare to have days like this one and just as rare where she felt at peace. She looked out at the sun going down taking in one last memorable picture, before looking back at her eager teammate. He gave her a small smile. Duty calls…she mused to herself._

A crack of lightning and thunder suddenly brought her back to reality and she jumped at the noise. She hadn't realized how long she'd been reminiscing down memory lane. She shouldn't have come down here. Another flash of lightning, and a boom of thunder, brought the storm down on top of her. The rain came down in sheets and she stumbled heading towards a small rock over hang for some shelter.

She should try and get ahold of the others. If she summoned Katsuyu she would sink faster than she'd be able to land; the rain would bog her down. She could form a messenger hawk but it more than likely wouldn't want to fly out in this weather. She also didn't pack any flares to shoot off. "Well you're shit out of luck, Sakura…good going." She muttered, wiping her wet hair off of her face. It was starting to get cold, despite it being the hottest summer ever. She sighed. Was that all she could do these days? Sigh? She needed a life. She was always sighing. When they got back to the village—hopefully with Naruto—she'd ask her girlfriends out for lunch or dinner maybe. A sound next to her caught her attention and she saw a crab scuttling from its sand bed and heading towards her. It disappeared into a crack in the cliff wall next to her. She leaned down and looked into the crack. She couldn't see or hear the crab anymore. She could feel a rush of wind whistling out from the crack; cool against her wet skin causing her to shiver. There must be a cave or underground lagoon down there. With a sudden realization she sat up and stared at the crack. Closing her eyes she laid her ear onto the ground and pumped chakra in her hand before slapping said hand onto the wet sand. Nothing. She laced more chakra into her hand and made a fist before punching the ground harder. Almost immediately, visions or even shapes, in her brain's chakra waves, appeared. Shapes, or these chakra echoes were moving around…walking! 'This has to be where the Sound Ninja were headed! They have another underground hideout!'

She quickly sat up and crouched on her heels. She had to get back to Kakashi and the other immediately. She stepped and was almost blinded by the onslaught of the rain. They'd been right on top of them the entire time! No wonder Shikamaru couldn't see anything with his shadow jutsu. The entrance to this place had to be hidden or even underwater somewhere.

She got up and stepped towards the cliff side. She looked up and couldn't even see the top it was so far up. She had to go now. Just as she reached up to grab hold of the rocks, the ground rumbled beneath her feet. She lost her footing and fell to the wet beach. The rumbling grew stronger and she struggled to get herself back to her feet when suddenly the ground split beneath her stretched itself around her, like a mouth taking a huge bite out of something. She screamed and disappeared, the ground slammed together casting complete darkness around her as she fell.

* * *

Tsunade was watching the jounin in front of her. And by watching, she meant that she was staring at his mouth—not listening one bit. When did she let her mind wander so much? She shook her head a little and sat up in her chair.

"That concludes my mission report, Hokage-sama." The jounin stated, still standing at attention.

She nodded and waved at him in dismissal. He bowed and left the room. At the snap of the door shutting, she sighed and slumped in her chair. She hadn't heard anything he was saying but from what the paper report said in front of her, he'd been on a small mission to check the village walls condition. How boring. She did her best to give jounin and even chuunin missions to go on but there was truly nothing to give them at the moment. It was too peaceful, and she didn't like it. A knock on the door sounded and she knew it was Shizune. She bade her to come in.

"Tsunade-sama." Shizune said, walking in and kicking the door lightly closed behind her. She was carrying a rather hefty stack of papers, much to Tsunade's chagrin. She dropped the pile of papers onto the desk with a loud thump.

"Anymore messages from Kakashi?" She asked, glaring at the stack with disdain. Shizune shook her head. Tsunade nodded. She was growing more and more concerned by the day.

"I'm going out for a drink." She suddenly decided, standing up and walking towards the door. "Care to join me?"

"But! Tsunade-sama! These reports have to be looked over and signed by tomorrow!" Shizune protested.

Tsunade waved a hand over her shoulder, grabbing the door handle with her other hand. "Yes, yes, all in good time, my friend. But first! I need booze."

* * *

Okay…she had drunk too much. She wobbled a little, holding onto a closed storefront window. It was nearing one in the morning. Shizune came up from behind and put Tsunade's free arm over her shoulders to hold her up.

"Hokage-sama! You know you shouldn't be drinking so much. You always become such…a mess!" She scowled, dragging her master back to the Hokage tower.

"Hey now, Sheesne… I kin walk ba maself…" Tsunade slurred, trying to shove her friend off of her. Shizune kept a firm grip on her.

"Look. There's a bench over there. Let's take a rest shall we?" Shizune pleaded, leading Tsunade over to sit down. She let her master hit the bench. It looked like it had hurt—she hoped it had. She turned towards her.

"Tsunade!" She yelled, dropping all honorifics. "What if the village was suddenly under attack!? Or someone needed you for an emergency at the hospital!? You're in no condition to help with any of those situations." She screamed a little to herself. She looked a bit ridiculous having her mini trantrum. Tsunade would have laughed at the sight if she hadn't noticed something strange behind her friend. She was probably seeing things. Shizune calmed down a bit and noticed the confused and distant look on Tsunade's face.

"What is it, Tsunade-sama?" She asked, glancing over her shoulder and not seeing anything but darkened closed.

"The Uchiha manor…There's a light in one of the windows." She said simply. She fumbled with her robes to stand up.

"The Uchiha manor? Shishou—there's no one living there. It's been a ghost town since Uchiha Sasuke left the village." Shizune stated, lending a hand to the wobbly woman in front of her.

"But—look!" Tsunade insisted, her eyes squinting at the house in the distance. Shizune glanced behind her and focused on the said house in question. Her eyes widened. Indeed, there was a dim light shining behind the semi-run down home's windows. It was once a stately home, housing some of the most powerful shinobi that had existed at the time. Now it was in shambles, having been abandoned for at least 12 years. She was shocked her shishou could see that far in her state. The home was at least a half-mile or more from where they were. But then again she could never put anything past her master. 'This woman has a radar like a hawk!'

She looked back at Tsunade, who was currently holding green chakra'd hands to her chest.

"There." Tsunade said, suddenly alert and completely sober. Shizune's jaw practically dropped to the floor.

"You mean—you can heal yourself from being drunk!?" She was completely baffled.

"Just a simple rapid blood cleansing technique, I picked up a few years ago. Actually, Sakura is the one that first did it. This would have saved me years of preventable hangovers if I'd thought about this sooner."

Shizune shook her head.

"Now. Let's go see who's been squatting in the Uchiha's home without me knowing about it." Tsunade said, cracking her knuckles. She started forward. "Although…I have a feeling I already know who it is."

* * *

Hiya! There will be more soon. Thanks for reading. Reviews are nice, constructive criticism is also okay. Hater's and flamers can move on. Thank you :D let me know what you think!

Risu


	4. Chapter 4

Hope

4

I don't own Naruto still -_-;

" _ **Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey toward it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us."**_

 _ **-Samuel Smiles**_

* * *

Naruto was drifting in and out of consciousness. He couldn't feel anything. His was closed off to his senses. The fourth time, or was it the fifth, he'd woken up after having the kyuubi being taking out of him, and he suddenly had the feeling of wanting to die. He'd never felt that way before…and his captors wanted him to feel this way. Kami only new how much he _did._ It would be easier to just let himself slip away. This was the first time he'd felt powerless in his life.

At first, like any captured ninja, he tried to distinguish smells and sounds—anything to establish where he was. Granted, he knew he was taken by the ocean but they could have transported him anywhere from that point. He'd come to the conclusion that he was in an underground bunker somewhere. It smelled musty and it was wet. He could hear water dripping along the walls and off the ceilings.

At that moment he could barely hear anything let alone smell or see. He felt that his ears had practically exploded during one of Kisho's extractions. He hadn't eaten in days and had, when it was rarely given to him, barely anything to drink. His mouth had gone dry a long time ago—coated in dried blood.

He'd been having lapses and blackouts—unable to remember what Kisho had been telling him. Just bits and pieces. Honestly, the only thing keeping Naruto alive at the moment was the repetitive beating of his heart and thinking of home. Thinking of his friends who'd become like family. Thinking of…Sakura. From the first time he'd seen her when they were just kids, he'd felt the overwhelming desire to protect her. He couldn't describe that feeling to anyone and he had an even harder time understanding that feeling himself. His heart would race just seeing her from across the room. His stomach would flutter just hearing her name. She'd never given him the time of day unless they were meeting up for missions or training, or getting dinner with their friends. They'd gotten closer after Sasuke had left. They'd only had each other. That and Kakashi, but he had his own life to live. He'd started hanging with her more and more—Shikamaru was an added friend that looked out for her when he couldn't.

He tried to picture her in his mind…and he couldn't. Just a flash of pink…how could he forget what she looked like?

' _Jinchuuriki…'_ A deep voice rumbled solemnly from within him.

 _Naruto suddenly found himself at the grand cage gates of Kurama. He was standing, and looked around wildly at himself, holding his hands up to his face and wiggling them._

' _Naruto…' The kyuubi rumbled again. Naruto snapped back to attention and could see the tired slitted eyes of the demon staring back at him through the bars._

" _Kurama…" He said, walking up and grasping the bars with his hands and resting his head against one of the steel poles. "Are you all right?"_

 _Kurama let out a weak rumble, attempting to laugh._

' _I…am growing weak. Only a portion of my myself remains inside of you, boy."_

" _I don't know how to stop it. But then again…this is what you've wanted all these years." Naruto answered, beginning to feel weak himself. Kurama sighed and looked at the man in front of him._

' _Indeed. I have wanted out of this prison the moment I was sealed here." Kurama closed his eyes slightly. "But alas, you've grown into a strong shinobi and without fault I have grown accustomed to sharing my life force with you…you are an interesting man, Uzumaki Naruto."_

 _Naruto felt a lump form in his throat. "I know—" his voice cracked and he cleared his throat and started again. "I know you've wanted out forever, Kurama. Why aren't you happy about this?_

 _Kurama chuckled. 'Believe me, boy. I have wanted to feel the fresh air of the earth for twenty-five years. I've wanted to taste the waters, run freely about the land. But…with you I have still achieved that. I feel as you feel and see as you see.'_

" _Kurama…you sound like you're going to die when you get free. You're not going to die you know." Naruto said, his voice wavering. 'I'm going to die' he spoke to himself._

" _Foolish boy.' Kurama leaned forward, his massive snout towering over Naruto. 'I won't die. But I fear I will be back to who I was before this prison. I will kill to my heart's desire. There will be no stopping me. I'll only thirst for power and relish on the fears of all who dwell on this earth. I will not remember who I am now. YOU will die.' Kurama finished, closing his eyes._

 _Naruto tried to swallow the lump. "I'll try and find a way to out of this Kurama. There has to be a way for you to get your freedom and not have me die in the process." He said, trying to sound positive._

' _My fate was sealed the moment my path crossed with your father.' He barked._

 _Naruto turned away. "I'm not my father. As good of a man he was, I want to be better. If I say I'm going to find a way…I will. Otherwise I'm going against my own beliefs as a shinobi." Naruto loudly promised, holding a fist out to the massive demon._

" _You are foolish…" Kurama said sounding more tired._

" _Maybe I am, but all I can do is try." Naruto stated before everything faded out._

He was back to his originally state of mind, shackled and weaker than ever. He could hear footsteps in the hallway, coming closer. With the footsteps he heard voices.

"…Found her with a chakra radar, courtesy of Senzo. He's creepy when he does that eye rolling thing."

"Tell me about it. So you said that she has pink hair? Kind of rare to hair like that naturally. I would have dyed my hair eons ago!"

Naruto's heart practically stopped. 'Pink hair? There's no way Sakura would be here…she's not on active duty…but…what if it was her? That means she was captured and was here…!

"Right? Well the boss wants me to try and interrogate her; try and get anything out of her."

"I'll come with. It's been boring around here and I have had the constant itch to smack something around."

They both chuckled and continued on their way.

What the hell…? Naruto grimaced and willed his left arm to moved slightly pulling on his shackles. He pulled with all his strength. They clanked and groan slightly, having not been moved during his time there. 'No use…I don't have any strength.'

But…maybe it was another Jinchuuriki…it would go against him to leave them here without trying to help them in some way. He didn't want them to go through what he was going through. Somewhere, deep within him, a surge of energy came forth and his yell turned into a scream as he pulled with all he could muster. He heard another groan and metal tearing from itself and suddenly his left arm was slack, lifeless but free. To his dismay, as he attempted the same feat with his right arm, the door to his cell was thrown open and two masked shinobi flew in and shackled his arm back up. One of them made some hand seals before tapping his forehead and with that he again could feel nothing. They'd redone the chakra cut off on him. He had nothing.

"Kisho said that if he acted up, to do an extraction on him." One of them said, sounding muffled behind his mask. The other shinobi shackling his arm backed up cackled and then walked over to the lever on the wall, placing a hand on it. He looked back at Naruto and from what Naruto could tell, sported a grin as he spoke.

"With pleasure." He said, yanking the lever down. Naruto screamed once again only this time as his body seized, he could actually see everything. He could feel Kurama stirring violently and suddenly appear from the seal on his stomach.

"Look!" Shouted one of the masked shinobi pointed at the red aura taking shape.

"This is freaky man!" The other one who had thrown the switch said, his mask in his hand, having taken it off for a better look at the sight before him.

"Ku—K-Kurama!" Naruto shuttered, fighting the way his body was shaking. An ethereal form took shape as it drifted out of him, slithering as it struggled. A long snout and ears forms and then yellow eyes blinked open. Teeth bore in its maw and gnashed as it thrashed to and fro. It blinked and looked at Naruto. Naruto stared back.

"Kurama…hang in there…!" He grimaced, his teeth grinding painfully together. The kyuubi continued to stare at him, his eyes flashed and Naruto felt a pain in his head beyond excruciating, and then the kyuubi wiggled free; _finally_ …free.

"Quick! Grab the sealing container!" Shouted the unmasked shinobi and pointed over to the other man standing there. The other one broke out of his gaze and quickly ran over to the wall, forming quick hand seals and unlatching a barrel covered in strange markings. He ran back over and flipped the lid off and both of the men held onto each side and waited.

A crumbling, earth shaking, rumble vibrated from within the opening of the barrel and a typhoon suddenly swirled itself—sucking in all that was within its path. A calamity of shrieks and screams were heard seeping out of the opening of the barrel—almost as if the gates of hell had opened and all it's dead and damned were crying their furies.

Naruto winced and felt the pull of the vacuum, his shackles preventing him from being sucked in. "KURAMA!" He yelled, feeling the wrist clamps tear into his skin. The kyuubi in front of him grew in immense size, almost filling the cavernous cell. It let out a shrill snarl and attempted to escape from the room via water drainage vent along the wall. The door to the room slammed open and Kisho ran in, shoving the two shinobi holding the sealing container to the side. He grabbed hold of it himself and raised it above his head.

"FINALLY! I HAVE YOU, KYUUBI! YOU BELONG TO ME!" He roared above the deafening screams coming from the barrel, laughing a maniacal laugh. Naruto watched, completely defenseless, as his demon—his friend—was sucked, ethereal body and all, into the barrel. Kisho slammed the lid shut and slapped sealing papers all over the top and sides in the blink of an eye and performed hand seals—a green light appeared over the container and then—nothing. The silence was loud and deafening.

Naruto was limp…he felt…empty.

"Oh myyyy! Now THAT was a RUSH!" Shouted Kisho, laughing out a great belly laugh, and combing his hair back with his fingers. His eyes were large and he was breathing heavily. He looked up at Naruto and disappeared before reappearing in front of Naruto, holding Naruto's head up with his hands on either side of his face.

"You have given me the best thing in this waste of a world! I now have the ultimate power to bring down all the most powerful shinobi nations…!" Kisho shouted, his face inches from Naruto's. He broke down into another maniacal laugh, letting go of Naruto's face and began twirling around the room.

'I can't…believe…' Naruto thought to himself, the room growing dark. 'This isn't how I'm supposed to go…' He was feeling cold. He felt no presence of Kurama anywhere near him or in him. There was nothing. Just a deep darkness. He couldn't end things like this…he had people that depended on him. People HE depended on. People who were friends…people who were family. The one's he loved…the _one_ he loved… They were going to be sad…he'd never want that. Kisho suddenly appeared in front of him again. He grabbed Naruto's chin and lifted it up again to look at him.

"I'm so sorry, Naruto-kuuuun." He cooed creepily. "You were such a well thought of shinobi and you had such amazing power…but you were only a shell for something much MUCH greater…and I thank you for giving it to me. I'm SO sorry that you have to die now. We were becoming such good friends! But then again—some friends stay and some friends….Die!" He twirled a hand in the air before clenching his fingers together and smashing his fist into Naruto's temple.

Naruto heard a snap in his neck and then nothing. His heart slowed considerably before he felt it no longer.

'Sakura…gomen…'

* * *

"Tsunade-sama!" Shizune hissed, trailing behind her. The moon was bright and their shadows were casted into long trails—stretching into long trails against the worn out buildings. As Tsunade strode closer to the Uchiha home, she couldn't help but feel an eeriness while walking through the darkest section of the city. The buildings were beginning to crumble and decay after years of disuse and being left to the elements. The Uchiha Clan district had essentially become a ghost town after Sasuke had left. She almost felt like it was taboo being here. She slowed to a stop in front of the main gate leading into the main Uchiha household's front yard.

"Shizune!" She hissed quietly to her companion. "Be alert." Shizune nodded and pulled a kunai out from her side pouch; armed at the ready. Tsunade turned back to the gate and leapt over the gate landing on the porch that surrounded the whole estate. She leaned over and placed her ear against the worn out shouji screen door. She could sense a faint chakra ribboning itself weakly inside. It was dull and not life threatening but she had a feeling that who it belonged to could kill you before you even realized it had even happened. Shizune appeared next to her, her kunai still out and at the ready. Tsunade nodded to her, reaching for the door handle, mentally counted to three before throwing the door open.

She let out a yell and launched herself into the foyer, her hands visibly spilling out chakra, ready to throw punches. Shizune clumsily ran into her back when Tsunade suddenly came to a standstill.

"Shishou?" Shizune questioned. She looked over her master's shoulder to where she was staring. Her eyes grew wide and she gasped. "Tsunade-sama! It's—"

"Uchiha Sasuke." Tsunade breathed, not really believing the sight before her. The crumpled body of the said man was lying prone on the foyer step leading into the house. She jumped forward, crouching down next to him. 'Shit!' She reached down and held two fingers to a spot on his neck. There was a weak pulse. She leaned back so she was squatting and realized that she'd been kneeling in a pool of blood. It had started to congeal and was pooling around him from his torso region.

"He's alive…but barely." She said. She scooped up the body of the grown man and stood up turning to Shizune. "Hurry! We have to get him to the hospital right now!"

Shizune was staring at her, her eyes wide in shock, not being able to remove them from the person Tsunade held.

"Ts-Tsunade-sama! It's Uchiha Sasuke! He's a traitor! We don't aid traitors!" She yelled, pointing at the unconscious man.

"Shut up, Shizune! Now's not the time. This boy needs medical attention stat!" Tsunade yelled, keeping a stern look and moving around her stunned companion. She didn't wait for an answer and bounded out the door.

"Uchiha." She said, jumping from a house's rooftop to the next one. "You have a lot of explaining to do. Don't go dying on me just yet, you stupid kid."

* * *

Sakura wasn't sure what hurt more: Her splitting headache or her pride. Granted, yes, she was crazily rusty when it came to missions and having to use her chakra for OTHER things besides medicine, but she should have been more on top of her game with her surroundings then to have NOT been sucked into a fucking hole. But then again, she literally had no idea that the ground was even going to open up beneath her too. No sign of a chakra spike or the like. It hadn't been a normal sinkhole, she knew that for a fact, because no normal hole would open wide—like a mouth—and then promptly close up as if she was being swallowed. But she had more dire things to be worried about—for instance: She was currently handcuffed and tied up, with her arms raised above her head, to the ceiling. She didn't have a clue as to where she was or who was holding her here. Well, something with the Sound Ninja in an underground bunker—those ninja and their bunkers!—is what she remembered after being rudely slapped awake by a grumpy looking shinobi. They all wore creepy masks here-much like Konoha's ANBU masks; they were porcelain with streaks of paint placed around the eye and mouth holes in precision. Instead of animal masks though—they bore the images of contorted demon faces. The mouths sitting open with great fangs protruding down past the chin and large horns standing straight out from the forehead—they could be used as weapons if all else failed. When she first saw them she'd screamed and flinched away—her constant nightmares coming back to her; filled with faces she didn't recognize with the same stoic demonic faces—frozen, with fangs covered in blood. She almost thought that they were cruelly laughing at her.

She'd woken up with a splitting headache, obviously from falling in the pitch dark and hitting the ground before she knew it had happened and probably from the masked person standing in front of her; their hand still clenched in a fist after having punched her awake. The room she was in was dankly lit; a few torches lit the wet room. Sakura noticed water dripping from cracks in the walls and from the ceiling. They were under the ocean as she had previously surmised. She couldn't feel her arms, as the blood had long stilled from flowing there with her arms being tied straight up for who knows how long. She looked up through her swollen eye at the person standing before her. They were clothed in plain shinobi garb, the red mask glinting at her in the dim lighting.

"Finally, you're awake. Kisho has been unusually impatient for you to wake up." They grumbled, finally relaxing their arm and letting it fall to their side. "Oi! Tell Kisho-sama that the prisoner's awake!" He barked over his shoulder. Sakura couldn't see anyone in the room behind him so she could only assume there were guards stationed outside the door. She watched the shinobi in front of her and sized him up. She could probably take him, if she could get her arms free. She pulled slightly at the shackles above her: completely solid metal. She slumped back down with a breath. She jumped slightly when a screeching metal against metal sound split the deafening silence of the room. The door swung open and in waltzed a grinning man. He was average height with shoulder length brown hair and had piercing violet eyes. He was wearing a white and blue hakama with a red sash around his waist. He had the widest grin on his face, making Sakura leery of him instantly. If chakra's could smell, Sakura was sure his smelled of shit.

"My, my! What have we here? A lost little kuonichi, wandering along the beach. Tell me dear, what were you doing out here by yourself? Daydreaming is never a good thing when you're alone. Just about anyone could come about and have their sordid ways with you." He grinned even wider. Sakura felt sick. He was twisted and she didn't like where any of this was going.

"Nothing to say? That's all right. I'm already certain that you're here for you fellow Leaf Shinobi. His blond hair and blue eyes are something to behold, really. He was such a pretty fellow." Sakura felt her inside seize. 'Was?!' He must have seen the alarm in her face, because he snickered.

"So you do know the Jinchuuriki. Well, what can I say to make you feel at ease." He stopped in front of her and held a question hand to his chin, as if in deep thought. "He went quietly." He snickered a little bit more. Sakura felt the blood drain from her face. 'There's…no way! Naruto…you can't be dead.' Kisho twirled around a little, flamboyantly tossing his hair over his shoulder.

"You bastard!" She yelled hoarsely, realizing that her throat was parched.

"Now now, my little pink haired kunoichi. My, my. Where are my manners?" He laughed haughtily. "My name is Kisho. And YOU must be Sakura?" He questioned.

"How did—"

"Naruto-kun—in the midst of being in and out of consciousness, continuously mumbled this and that about your home and it's people—who I can only assume are friends—but the one word he kept saying over and over again, was Sakura."

Sakura felt clammy. She needed to throw up. 'Naruto…there's no way you're gone. You're too stubborn and thick headed to give up so easily.' She could feel herself beginning to hyperventilate. 'No..no…no!' She screamed in her head. 'He isn't dead.'

"He's not dead." She managed to squeak out. Kisho stopped his humming and looked at her with a questioning gaze.

"On the contrary, my little pink haired friend." He appeared suddenly in front of her, his face inches from hers. He stood there, his eyes glancing at all her features, his breath mingling with hers; a slow grin grew on his face. "I've extracted the Kyuubi from him."

Sakura gasped and jerked away from him. 'There's no way…No! Naruto!' She was staring at nothing—not paying attention to the freak in front of her. Sakura could feel her insides freeze. There was no way Naruto was dead. She continued to tell herself this. She attempted to search for chakra in a larger scale surrounding her cell, but to no avail. Someone had placed chakra blockers all over the walls and ceilings. Almost like a firewall in a computer. She closed her eyes and allowed herself to breathe. He wasn't dead. It would take him so much more to die, she told herself.

"Helllloooo?" Came a questioning sneer. She opened her eyes and looked up. Kisho was standing in front of her, sporting an innocent looking face. One of his hands was in front of him as if he'd been waving it in front of her to get her attention.

"That's better. I do hate when people don't pay attention to me while I'm talking." He said, letting out a bored sigh.

"He isn't dead." She tried again. She needed herself to believe this and maybe saying it out loud would make it more real.

"Ha! You're a hard one to convince! So stubborn! I LIKE it!" He chortled. "Hmmmm. How about I SHOW you my proof?"

Sakura started and looked up at him with confusion. Proof? She didn't like the sound of that. She needed to get out of here. She needed to get Naruto out and get him home. She jumped when two shinobi flanked her sides suddenly, unlatching her hands from the shackled above her and setting her down on the ground. She took that moment to lash out her legs, although still tied together she was able to shove her feet into one the shinobi's gut, effectively launching him away from her and into a wall behind him. Kisho yelled something and more shinobi appeared, all holding down a part of her to the floor. She struggled against them but it was too much.

"Geez! You've got some fire in you!" Kisho laughed, looking over at his grimacing shinobi—who was clutching at his stomach in agony. "You shouldn't have done that, little girl. Now you've lost your chance to see your precious Naruto." Sakura gasped against the firm holding on her and felt tears begin to sting her eyes. No! She wouldn't cry! This wasn't the time or place. She had to play along. She had to survive to get out. To get to Naruto herself. She stopped moving and the demon masked shinobi holding her down stopped as well, although they kept a firm grip on her.

"Tie her back up!" Kisho said, motioning them with a flick of his wrist. Dammit. She had just begun to get feeling back into her arms again too. She was lifted and placed with her arms shackled above her once again. She looked at the man in front of her. He was ushering all the ninja from the room except for one to stand by the door. When the door slammed shut he turned to her once again.

"Sakura, Sakura, Sakura… You've actually impressed me a bit. To think you still had a little oomph let in you after I had made sure the chakra barriers along these cell walls were in tiptop shape. You see, I know all about you. You, the Hokage's apprentice… Your exceptional medical skills and you're amazing strength. You, my dear, are someone to not be reckoned with."

Sakura stared at him. How the hell does he know so much about her? Her personal files were stored in the Hokage tower in Konoha and were only accessible by someone with top-notch ranking. Unless…

"A little birdie told me all about Naruto-kun's closest friends. I had to be sure whom he was surrounding himself with so I had to know just whom I was going to be messing with. You guys are such a ramshackle of a band of ninjas! You all have such varying techniques it was hard to recruit just the right shinobi to be able to take you all on. But! You guys saved me so much blood and sweat—you just showed up at my front door! Literally!" He cackled and swiped a hand through his hair before walking up to her again. He grasped her face in his tight grip again and she had no choice but to look at him. He had flecks of blue surrounding his pupils and a faint scar on the corner of his top lip. Overall, Sakura deduced that he wasn't the kind of man to do any dirty work himself. He was a delicate man, but from this hold on her face, his fingers more than likely bruising her, he had hidden strengths of his own.

"I can see what Naruto-kun saw in you…" He suddenly said, his eyes running all over her face. "You are definitely a looker. Such a pretty hair color! And those eyes. What a different color." Sakura found herself unable to take her eyes away from him. She was almost hypnotized by the color of his eyes—they felt like they were boring into her. She felt his hand give slightly and one of his thumbs brushed over her bottom lip. "Pretty pink lips…I wonder if Naruto has gotten a taste of this yet." He was almost talking in a whisper. It was making Sakura's skin crawl. Her eyes widened when she felt his lips brush slightly over hers and she took that moment, of his slackened hand, and moved her head back before thrusting it forward, her forehead smashing into his nose.

Kisho screamed and stumbled back, holding his face in his hands. Sakura could see stars slightly—she hadn't smashed someone's face in for quite a while. She began to wiggle in her restraints, praying to any kami listening to help her in someway. She suddenly remembered something—'Thank you Shikamaru!' She yelled in her head. At one time during a small mission, Shikamaru had told her to keep bomb tags in various spots throughout her vest. She attempted to look down at the large collar of her jounin vest. How stupid of these people to not search her entirely—and they called themselves shinobi. She could see a small corner of paper sticking out of a hidden slot just along the seam. She turned her head down, craning her next to the side, almost thankful that her hands were above her head. The collar was closer to her face, allowing her pull at the tag with her teeth. Without notice, she suddenly felt pain radiate across her face and she felt blood fill her mouth. She turned her head forward and saw Kisho, his face covered in blood and a nasty bruise spreading itself underneath both eyes, standing before her his hand still clenched into a fist from the right hook he'd landed on her.

"You stupid, bitch! What is it with you Leaf bastards trying to defile my face!?" He yelled, taking his hand and wiping blood off. Sakura spat blood out onto the ground before her. She felt around her mouth and felt a few loose teeth. The bastard. She was beginning to get mad. She didn't have any time to ponder. If she was going to get out and possibly die in a blaze of glory now was the time. She reached down again and pulled the paper bomb from her collar and launched it up towards the ceiling. It made its mark and exploded sending rocks and metal in all directions. She was momentarily paralyzed by the ringing in her ears from the explosion but she had to MOVE! She fell to the ground and rolled to the side, slamming into a stalagmite. She felt pain her side, her ribs crushed, but she paid no head; sitting herself up and slamming her ankle shackles down onto the solid rock formation. With a spark her feet separated and she jumped up. There were yells and shouts of order flying all over. The most prominent of shouts was of Kisho.

"Find the Leaf bitch! Kill her!" He screamed, looking all around him in hopes of catching sight of Sakura in the chaos. Sakura thanked Shikamaru with all her being for the paper bomb—and the surprising effect of an added smoke screen. She herself couldn't see anything but that also meant no one could either. Hands still bound, she relied on her feet touching the ground and her back touching the walls to guide towards where she thought the door to the cell was. People were all around her, lighting flares and torches in hopes of clearing away the smoke to see her. She felt herself stumble slightly, her foot catching on a row of stalagmites. She almost screamed when she caught herself on the wall on the side where her ribs were broken. She righted herself up and made a choice. She rushed herself forward—to the dim light filtering into the room. That's the door! She somehow was able to duck under someone flinging a torch around and she dove forward, rolling out into the hallway. Without a second thought, she stood up and ran, not knowing where this direction was leading her. As far as she knew, there was no actual exit door to this place. No one in her group had found any kind of opening that was out of the ordinary on top the cliff face over looking the ocean.

She was surprised that no one had seemed to notice the she'd slipped away. She could feel her chakra surge back into her the moment she'd left the room and was slowly sending some to her ribs—the crackling sound under her skin making her nauseous. When she felt she was a safer distance away she paused and leaned against a wall. She was going to die here. She had never felt so lost—literally. She figured she was either going to die a glorious death in battle or of old age surrounded by her extended friends and family. She'd preferred the latter, but she'd told herself to be practical a long time ago—Shinobi normally didn't live long enough for that. She'd made peace with it. But right now—she needed to keep going. She felt something in her—all the faces of her friends and family—Naruto—back home flashed in her mind and she moved herself forward. She passed door after door—probably holding prisoners—before skidding to a stop after passing a certain one. She moved back and in the dim lighting she saw a familiar symbol painted on the door. The Konohagakure symbol was worn but still visible in a vibrant red in the torches dim lighting; it was screaming at her. There's no way… She moved forward and with her still shackled hands she pried the door handle down—wincing at the groan it emitted as it opened. She glanced in and felt her insides once again freeze.

'No…'

She moved forward cautiously—not even jumping when the door slammed behind her.

'It can't be!'

She slowly moved forward taking in all that she was seeing. She closed her eyes rapidly—hoping she was seeing things. Time seemed slow and she felt her breathing stop; her heart slowed. There was a humming noise in her ears blocking all noise around her. She inched her feet forward before falling to her knees, her eyes never leaving the sight before her.

"N-Naruto!" She screamed in the most animalistic noise she'd ever heard. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Her friend, her companion…her partner was before her; shackled to the ceiling. His legs and arms splayed out on either side of his body. His head was down and shadowed-but that wasn't what Sakura was gasping at. His body…looked like it had gone through a meat slicer. She could smell the acrid smell of burnt flesh—his arms and legs were singed and covered in blisters. His hair was matted in blood, giving it a bright orange hue. She felt herself lifting herself to her feet and she moved forward. 'He can't be…there's no way.' She moved to him and stopped inches from his fall head. He wasn't moving.

"Naruto…?" She lifted her connected hands and touched his shoulder, causing—to her horror—his head to shift to the other shoulder with no resistance. She gasped and threw her hands to her mouth, her eyes growing wide. Her eyes flooded with burning tears. He was…

"No..nononono.." She cried, "Naruto! Open your eyes!" She screamed, moving his face up to hers. She gawked. He wasn't…recognizable. His face, covered in cuts and bruises, was swollen and discolored beyond anything she'd ever seen. His eyes were closed shut—his lips swollen and his cheeks were shifted and purple; his jaw was broken for sure. One of many broken bones he had, she figured. She moved her hands along his face and down to his neck. She stopped and felt her face contort and her lip tremble. Tears spilled, one after the other, falling from her dirty cheeks and down to the floor.

No pulse. He was…

"No…." She breathed, a sob choking her. She moved forward and lifted her arms up and over to surround his head—pulling herself against him in a makeshift hug. Her sobs racked her body and she said his name over and over in a mantra, hoping just HOPING that this wasn't real. But it was. He wasn't breathing. He had no pulse. He had no chakra. He wasn't…alive. She choked at the word that floated through her heart.

"Naruto…!" She wailed, holding him as close as she could to her body. She shouldn't be crying like this…it was weak! She was so weak. She wasn't able to save him—what kind of kunoichi was she if she couldn't save one of her most important people!? She pulled away slightly when she a series of muffled noises far beyond where she was.

'Explosions..?!' They must have finally realized she wasn't in the room anymore. They were going to find her… and kill her. She turned back to Naruto and looked at him, before resting her forehead against his. She filtered chakra from her head into his, with no other reason than to have the ability to use her healing chakra one last time. If this was her punishment for being weak—then so be it. She would die for not being able to save her best friend.

Shouts were heard outside the door, the hallway filled with panicked shinobi. She swallowed and waited for them to burst into the room. Without warning, an explosion rocked the room by the door and she clenched Naruto closer to her. She wasn't leaving him! She couldn't! She didn't want to be alone when the end came. A poof sounded next to her and a small thump was heard.

"Yo!"

Sakura gasped and pulled away slightly. Pakkun was sitting next to her and Naruto on the floor. He had a cut on his side that didn't look too serious.

"Pakkun!" She shouted, completely shocked at the small pug before her. "How did—"

"No time Sakura-chan. I was sent here to sniff you out and by the looks of things—wait…is that…Naruto?" He said, suddenly hesitating with his words at the sight before him.

Sakura nodded and looked back at the man she had close to her. "He's dead." She said, still not believing the words that just came out of her mouth.

"Shit…we gotta find Kakashi. He and the other's went after you when the rain hit. We couldn't find you anywhere until they found your bag laying the beach. It looked like a fissure had been created in the sand. We followed your sent to the crack and realized that you'd either fallen in or had been swallowed." He went on to explain. An explosion, louder and closer to them this time, shook the whole room. Sakura shifted and held an even tighter grip onto Naruto.

"Pakkun, you have to get out of here. They're looking for me you know." She said, shifting her head to the side and pulling another paper bomb from her collar.

"What're—you mean you're not coming?" He asked, his eyes widening slightly. She shook her head.

"I have barely any chakra left and my hands are practically melted together with these shackles. And…" She said, her face falling, looking back at Naruto. "I won't leave Naruto."

"You're crazy! You're going to die if you stay here! Wait—" He was growling at her. He looked at the paper bomb between her teeth. "You're going to blow yourself up!?"

Sakura gave him a small smile and turned back to him to give him an answer when another explosion rang in the room and the ceiling crumbled over her. Rock and other debris hit her head causing her to black out momentarily. When she came to she realized they were standing in knee-deep water. They were under the ocean and the explosion that hit the ceiling caused it to collapse—sending ocean water through and filling the room. She panicked—it was rising quickly. It was at her waist now.

"Pakkun! You have to go! Tell Kakashi-" A gush of water fell over her and she sputtered. "—Tell him I'm sorry!" The dog looked at her sullenly, while dog paddling. He disappeared in a poof of smoke and she was left to deal with this on her own. She realized that the water was now at her shoulders and she quickly plucked out two paper bombs and slapped them the best she could with her bound wrists, onto the chains holding Naruto's arms. She dove underwater and inched the last of her chakra to create a waterproof seal around two more and slapped then onto the chains holding his legs. She pulled away slightly and felt them blow up. She quickly grabbed onto his slack arms and kicked them both up to the surface of the water with all her strength. She burst through and inhaled deeply. There was at least a foot left before the water filled the room to what was left of the ceiling. She kept kicking as hard as she could to keep herself and Naruto above water. She knew it was foolish. He was already gone…she still didn't believe it. The stupid kid that had annoyed her so much when they were younger…She just…figured maybe…she could somehow swim up through the bunker ceiling but who knew just how far below the ocean surface they were. She'd probably drown before she reached halfway to the top.

The water was up to her chin now, her nose touching the ceiling. She breathed as much as she could in before succumbing to the water. She went under, her handcuffed arms still around Naruto's shoulders. This was it. She was going to die.

' _Shikamaru…Ino…Kiba…'_ She began to count off the names of her friends, in hopes of putting herself in solace of was what happening to her. _'Hinata…all of you guys. Tsunade…Shizune. Everyone. Thank you…and I'm sorry.'_

She could feel herself losing control of not breathing; her lungs were on fire and she could feel herself and Naruto slowly drift down to the bottom of the water filled room. She couldn't do it anymore and she let out her breath and automatically inhaled, she choked, her lungs and body filling with water. Her vision was getting darker…it hurt so much.

Just as she was losing her final sense of consciousness she saw a large flash of light above her before the dark consumed her entirely.

* * *

"Tsunade-sama?" Came voice behind the woman. Tsunade jumped slightly and stopped biting her nails. She was staring at the patient in front her, deep in thought. She turned and found Shizune standing in the doorway, holding armful of paperwork and a hand clutching the doorknob.

"Yes, Shizune. I'll be along soon. Just…checking his vitals." She said, waving her off and looking at the heart beat monitor. 'Strong as ever…You're lucky, Uchiha. A lucky fool.'

"No…it's not that Tsunade-sama. I was hoping you'd go home and get some rest. You haven't slept in almost two days, my lady." Shizune spoke, her voice filled with concern. It was true. She hadn't slept. She didn't want to. She had to…She had to make sure Uchiha wasn't going to wake up and flee once he regained consciousness. Sure, he was handcuffed to the bed with bands of chakra, but they knew nothing of how strong he was now. There had been no update in any Bingo book in nearly five years. She sighed and let her arms fall to her sides. He looked so…innocent. Well, anyone would when placed into a sedated coma. You wouldn't think by looking at him now that he was in the Top 5 Most Wanted Missing Ninja's. He must have seen so much…so much death. So much loneliness. This was probably the most sleep he'd gotten in over thirteen years. His mission she'd put him on when he was just a boy had been to help him alleviate the sense of anger and hate she'd felt him in. He was going to leave anyways…so before he'd left she'd made him a deal. She wasn't sure when everything had become so messed up in the plan. She'd never told anyone—not even Shizune and ESPECIALLY Sakura what she'd done for this boy. So what was he suddenly doing back in Konoha? Was he sending a warning? Came back to destroy the village? No…if he'd wanted to do that he would have done that years ago. He was wounded… but had no weapon on him whatsoever when she'd found him which was foolish. She suddenly remembered Kakashi's coded haiku she'd received. He'd made an appearance and it had been tied with Naruto somehow. This was all so confusing. She didn't even know where to start. Tsunade hadn't received another message from Kakashi in at least a week and she was growing worried. She cleared her throat and patted the coma-induced man's hand. She didn't know much about him as a person…and maybe she didn't want to, but for now—' _Sleep well, kid_.'

She turned back to Shizune. "Send someone to me immediately if he wakes up." She spoke, leaving the room, a certain bottle of special occasion sake drifted over her mind as she stalked home.

* * *

UFFDA! That chapter took me like a week to write -_- I kept changing it so many times. Anyways…I hope you all liked it. And thanks to those who reviewed! Makes me happy to know that people take the time to let me know what they think of my brain's messy scrawling lol.

Thanks to:

 **BloodPokemon101**

 **tricksie**

 **TacticalDubstep**

 **Hanmac**

 **KameoDash**

You guys inspire me to keep going! Thank you :D


	5. Chapter 5

**Hope**

5

" _ **Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning."**_

 _ **-Albert Einstein**_

* * *

Sakura opened her eyes. She was expecting fluorescent lights of a hospital, but she was delightfully presented with a soft yellow room. She looked to her right and saw a bedside table next to her with a picture frame placed on it. It was Team 7…Kakashi with his panicked smile, hidden under his mask. Both of his hands were placed on each of the boys' heads each of their faces glaring at the other. She smiled, sitting up and holding the picture frame in her lap. She looked down at her younger self and let out a small laugh. Back then she'd been so determined to have her hair long. It was so Sasuke would notice her. She'd been silly then, wanting nothing more than to have Sasuke all to herself…that's all she'd needed at the time. Her dream of being Sasuke's wife…taking care of their children…leading the Uchiha household with her strong husband next to her. Boy, she must've been delusional back then. She'd been ready to give up the life of a kunoichi if Sasuke had given her one look—one chance of letting her into his heart.

Sakura shook her head. She'd made peace a long time ago that it was never to be, and looking around at all that she had now, she wouldn't give anything to be that stupid little girl again. Ever. She sighed and set the picture back down. How did…she get here? She held her hands up and put them to her face.

'I'm not…dead?' She was certain that she'd drowned. A sudden panic went through her. "Naruto!" She threw her blankets off of her and ran out of her room. If…if she was still alive then maybe, MAYBE Naruto was back home too. But then she remembered that he hadn't been alive when she'd found him. She felt a pain in her chest and she clutched a hand to her heart. 'Naruto…' She slumped down the wall and sank to one of the steps leading downstairs. This pain…she couldn't…believe…she couldn't grasp the idea that…he was—

A sudden rapid knocking sounded on her front door, and it brought her back to her senses. Her cheeks were damp and she raised a hand and brushed away tears she didn't realize she'd been shedding. The knocking sounded again and she didn't move. She wasn't sure she'd wanted to see anyone. She couldn't bear the thought of sharing smiles or laughter with anyone ever again. Not without, her best friend there with her. He didn't need to die. He was never supposed to die this young. Him or anyone for that matter. She closed her eyes, ignoring the rapping at her door. She wanted to yell at them to go away—she didn't want to see anyone!

"Oi! Sakura-chan! I know you're in there!"

Everything stopped. Sakura was barely aware of her heartbeat rapidly picking up. She couldn't breathe. That voice…was he-!?

Sakura launched herself up from the steps and ran to the front door, throwing it open. Her friend, her most important friend was standing on the out stoop, his fist still raised from pounding on the door. 'He's-!'

Before thinking she launched herself at him, throwing her arms around the broad shoulders, grasping as tight as she could, in fear that he was going to disappear on her.

"Whoa! Sakura-chan!" He said, grasping onto her shoulders to pull her back. He finally managed to do so and saw her face contorting to try and stop herself from outright bawling, although tears still slid down her face. "Sakura? What's wrong what happened?! Did someone hurt you? Why I outta beat their faces-" He started, moving past her and into her house looking for the bastard who'd done her wrong. She reached behind her and clutched the back of his shirt. He stopped and felt her arms wrap around his waist, holding tight.

"I was so worried, that you were dead." She said her voice muffled from her face pressing against the back of his shirt. She heard him let out a laugh. He unlatched her wrists from his waist and turned around hugging her close to him.

"Now where did you go and get such a dumb idea like that? I was only gone for like two days on a puny C-ranked escort mission. Hardly something I'd die from." He said into her hair. She pulled back and looked at him weird.

"But you were dead when I found you! You'd had the kyuubi extracted from you! How are you still living!?" She was panicking for no reason. He was standing in front of her and on her doorstep. He was alive—why wasn't that enough for her?

"Whaaaaat? What're you talking about? Kurama? Are you sure you're all right Sakura-chan?" He asked, reaching a hand up and placing it on her forehead to check her temperature. She swatted his hand away and reached for his jumpsuit zipper, whipping it down quickly and pulling his shirt open to lift his white shirt underneath.

"Sa-Sakura-chan! This isn't—what're you doing?! People are looking at us!" He whispered harshly, a blush rapidly forming on his face, trying to fend off her hands from undressing him. She didn't care what people thought—they all knew that Naruto and she were friends. She just had to see if it was true. In the middle of her fumbling, a pair of hands grasped her wrists and yanked her forward and into her house. Naruto slammed the door shut and breathed hard. He turned to her and she wasted no time in resuming her yanking his white shirt up.

"Seriously Sakura! Normally I'd be all too happy to be undressed by you, but let's at least go on a few dates first!" He hissed through his teeth, sounding panicked, trying to fend her off. The comment went right over her head and she yanked up his shirt. She looked over his toned stomach and sighed. It was still there. The seal that held the Kyuubi inside of Naruto was still there. She was so confused. When she'd last saw him he'd been without a seal and was completely unrecognizable. Had…it all been a dream? She didn't know what was real anymore. She let her arms fall to her sides and she closed her eyes, taking a deep breath before exhaling.

"Sakura-chan?" She snapped her eyes open and saw a worried and red-faced Naruto staring back at her. She smiled and wiped her face of tears.

"I'm sorry. I must've had a bad dream." She said, clasping her hands together. "Did you want some breakfast or something?" She was relieved. That mission to find Naruto—had been just a dream. It was a bad dream. It wasn't real and he wasn't dead. She was so relieved.

"Uh…sure?" He asked, scratching the back of his head and looking at her nervously. She felt lighter and happier then she'd felt in a long time. She rounded around a corner and entered her kitchen, taking eggs and other ingredients from her fridge and set to work making her friend breakfast. She looked up at him from the stove at his place in the doorway. He was looking at her like she had been speaking crazy talk and was probably debating on whether or not he should be taking her to the loony bin.

"I'm fine, Naruto. Really. It was just a bad dream, that's all. And…I'm sorry about the uh…undressing thing." She said, nodding to his disheveled clothing. He looked down and a blush spread across his face and he turned and tucked his undershirt back in and zipped up his suit. He turned back to her and gave her an embarrassed grin before sitting at the high top counter connected to her stovetop range.

Sakura couldn't believe that she'd had a dream like that. It was…so real. Almost like a genjutsu. She cracked eggs into a bowl and began to whip them with a fork. She was elated that he wasn't dead. He was here, sitting at her table, waiting for her to feed him. Just like every other time he was done with a mission—he'd come around yelling at her to feed him because he was STARVED. He was a bottomless pit, that's what he was. You'd think after hitting puberty he'd slow down on his eating after a while but his eating habits and hunger had seemed to triple over the years. Well, she had to remember that he was eating for two. She laughed to herself. She doubted the Kyuubi ate anything remotely in the form of human food.

"Sakura-chan? You keep staring at me. It's weirding me out." Naruto spoke, causing her to jump out of her daydreaming. He was looking at her again with concern and she waved him off.

"I'm sorry! Tell me about your mission and then let's go find Ino before I head to the hospital for work." She said, pouring the eggs into the pan. She proceeded to quickly chop vegetables and set to work in making rice in the rice cooker. That seemed to snap Naruto back into good form and he started telling her about the person he was escorting.

"Oh my god! Okay so I was sent to escort a princess from the Land of Honey to her wedding in the Land of Vegetable. In the end it was more like I was babysitting a twelve year old who didn't want anything to do with people telling her what to do…" He continued on and Sakura listened. She was happy. Everything was back to normal…the way it should be. She was here with him and he was talking to her and that's all she needed. She needed to put behind all of the anxiety she was feeling about that dream. She couldn't believe how real it had all felt; her ribs breaking, the bombs exploding, and her drowning. No…she couldn't think about it anymore.

A couple hours later, she and Naruto found themselves in Ino's parent's flower shop talking to the girl herself. Ino had grown into a beautiful woman. Her blonde hair long and flowing down her back in a large ponytail and her get gravity defying bangs still sticking out and falling down the side of her face. She was wearing her usual purple outfit and Sakura, with great amounts of jealousy, had filled out in the bust area. Sakura glanced down at her own chest that barely filled a B-cup. Granted, it did have an advantage—she didn't have to worry them bouncing and flipping all over the place in battle and getting in her way. But…pretty much every girl wished she had the 'goods' at least once in her life. She shook her head and greeted her friend.

"Sakura! I'm surprised you're here!" She said, reaching up and tightening her ponytail tie. "And Naruto! Back so soon? I swear you had just left. The village was _finally_ quiet for a change." She grinned, knowing just how to rile up the blond ninja before her. Sakura felt Naruto tense up behind her. Oh boy, here we go.

"Why you—" He started before being cut off by Sakura reaching behind her without looking and clasping his lips shut between her thumb and fingers.

"Naruto. Why don't you wait outside for a bit so Ino and I can have some girl talk. Hmm?" She said, a smile on her face, her voice an octave higher than normal. He 'Humphed' before moving away and heading outside; pouting the whole way. Sakura sighed and closed her eyes, shaking her head. She turned back to Ino who was giving her a sly grin with her chin resting in her hands, her elbows propped up on the counter top. She waggled her eyebrows, her smirk getting bigger.

"What?" Sakura drawled, glaring at her. She put a hand on her hip and tapped a foot.

"Oh nothing, nothing. Just…you have this "glow" about you right now. Did you and Naruto finally kiss?" Ino asked, a glint shining in her eyes. Sakura's jaw dropped and tried desperately to stop the blush on her face to stop forming.

"What!? What the heck, Ino! Naruto and I aren't like that. He's a friend, okay, a FRIEND." She practically barked at the blonde girl. Where would she even get an idea like that? Gosh…

"Ok all right. Whatever you say, Forehead." Ino shrugged innocently, the glint never leaving her eyes. "What did you want? Flowers? Special occasion? A…weddddiiiiing perhaps?"

"INO."

Ino laughed and walked from behind the counter to stand before her friend. "Ok, I promise I'll stop. But seriously, what're doing here? Don't you have work today?" Sakura cleared her throat and composed herself, extremely glad that her blush was ebbing away.

"Yes I do. In fact, I'm on my there now. I was just stopping to get some flowers for a patient of mine actually." Sakura said, looking at an already assembled bouquet of colourful flowers set in water next to the counter.

"Oh! Is it Mirakawa-san? How's he doing? I went and saw him during the last hour of my shift the other day. He seemed to be doing fine then." Ino said, moving down aisles of flowers, running her hands along the petals of each she past.

"From my last update on him, he's doing fine. Still has a bad cough though. The cancer seems to be receding…So I can only hope that he's finally going to be able to be healthy again soon. I was hoping to find something to cheer up that boring room of his." Sakura said, stopping in front of a beautiful potted plant of pansies. She knew what they meant.

" _You'll be in my thoughts_ ," Good choice. Wouldn't want to go with Roses or Carnations. Otherwise you'd have an old man running after you with hearts in his eyes." Ino said, picking up the potted plant and plucking a dead leaf off of it and tossing it carelessly to the floor. She grinned and moved past Sakura to wrap it up behind the counter. Sakura shook her head and sported a grin herself at the thought.

' _ **Open your eyes, Sakura!'**_ Sakura frowned.

"Did you say something Ino?" She asked, wondering where the sudden comment had come from.

Ino looked up at her from wrapping the potted plant in tissue paper. "No? Why? You hearing things now, forehead?"

Sakura rolled her eyes and waved it off, ignoring the weird feeling her stomach.

* * *

Sakura walked out into the street, her potted plant resting in her arms, she glanced around for Naruto. She turned around and laughed. He was still pouting, resting against the side of the building with his arms crossed. She went up to him.

"Come on Naruto. Let's get going. I have to get to work and I'm sure Tsunade has some things for you to do around the office." She laughed when he stuck his tongue out and blew a raspberry.

"Maaaan. Tsunade-baa had better get me started on my Hokage training or I'm gonna spike her sake with laxatives. Believe it." He grumbled, beginning to walk, resting his hands together on the back of his head. She laughed and slapped on the back with a little too much force, causing him to stumble forward.

* * *

Sakura wandered into her house and turned on the foyer light, shutting and locking the door behind her. She let out a long sigh. Her visit with Mirakawa-san went well enough, until she looked at his new blood tests. The cancer wasn't receding as quickly as before. In fact…it was coming back rapidly. She'd never seen a cancer this aggressive before, but she'd put on her best smile and placed the potted flowers in his open window and sat and talked with him for a while. He wasn't married; a widower of twelve years. His children lived in separate countries and were unable to come and visit because of civil battles between different smaller shinobi villages causing travel to be nonexistent.

She shook her head and dropped her bag on the floor and kicked her shoes off before trudging up the stairs. She wandered to her bedroom and flipped the light on and screamed.

A figure was perched in her window. She gasped and pulled a kunai out from the weapon band on her thigh strap and launched it towards the person. They easily dodged it and flipped backwards and landed right in front of her. She geared up and forced chakra into her fist and thrust it forward only to be stopped by a hand—and red eyes. She could feel herself tremble and she was losing her breath.

"Sa-Sasuke!" She gasped, not believing whom she was seeing. She wasn't sure her heart could take any more shock today. Indeed, the man in front of her was the Last Uchiha. He'd gotten taller. Leaner. Stronger. Her fist was beginning to ache with the force he was clenching it with. How—why was he here? Why didn't she sense him? How did he get into the village unnoticed? Fear and instinct took over and she threw a leg out and attempted to kick his legs from beneath him, only to have him suddenly vanish. He appeared behind her with a breath of air and she froze. His hands were resting on her shoulders with such…care.

"Sakura." He drawled. His voice has gotten deeper, huskier. She tremble slightly—why couldn't she move?! "You haven't changed a bit. Still the same old love sick girl, waiting for me to come back to you."

She felt tears brimming her eyes. This isn't how she'd wanted him to come back. No, she didn't feel the same as she did before. Did she? She felt his hands slowly slide down her arms landing stopping at her elbows. She felt goose bump flash across her body and a shiver ran down her spine. He suddenly spun her around and slammed her against the door, his body pressed roughly against hers. She looked up at him and was suddenly paralyzed at the tomoe spinning in his eyes. 'N-No! Not the mangekyou…!'

She only realized that she'd fainted when a freaked out Naruto roughly shook her awake.

" _ **Sakura! Wake up dammit! Sakura!**_ " He kept yelling, shaking her shoulders. She opened her eyes and launched herself up looking around wildly.

"Sasuke!" She yelled, getting to her feet and posing in a defensive stance.

"What!? Teme!?" Shouted Naruto, also looking around wildly. There was nowhere to hide in her small bedroom. It was lit by her ceiling fan, letting light fall in all spaces of the room. She was panting slightly, feeling like she'd gone crazy.

"He was here! He was sitting in the window when I walked in, he pinned me against he door and he…used his sharingan…" She paused, not even sure what she was even talking about. It was becoming clear that she didn't know what was real and what wasn't anymore.

"Sakura?" A concerned Naruto voiced from behind her. She turned and tried to calm her erratically beating heart. It was just…Naruto. She closed her eyes and slumped down, landing on the edge of her bed.

"Are you sure you're okay?" He asked, still standing where he was. She rubbed her eyes and nodded. She must be extremely tired to be imagining things as great as an actual person in her room. She waved it off and looked at her friend. She blanched, finding Naruto right in front of her. He was looking at her with a strange expression. She felt a shiver rise up her spine. His eyes were so…intense. She couldn't stand looking in them any longer and she jerked her gaze away to settle onto her lamp next to her bed. Suddenly without warning a pair of hands clasped themselves around her throat, lifting her from the bed and thrusting her into the air. She gasped and scratched at the hands clutching her throat.

"N-naruto!" She wheezed. Tears were forming in her eyes from the squeezing of her neck and slipped down her face. She tried to find the strength of her chakra to pry the hands free only to find she was tapped out. 'Why-?!" She was defenseless. She had no way to get herself free, her legs weren't working, and she couldn't raise them to land a kick. 'Someone…help…help!' She couldn't feel her nails tearing from her fingers, bleeding. She couldn't breathe; her face was on fire, her eyes beginning to bulge. She cracked an eye open the best she could and felt her heart begin to palpitate against her rib cage—threatening to burst through her chest.

It wasn't Naruto. It was…but he had Sharingan. Mangekyou Sharingan. And they were tearing her mind into shreds. She was suffocating.

' _ **You have to wake up.**_ _'_ A voice in her head sounded.

'W-what?' She thought. She could feel her lungs giving out—burning with a fire so hot she couldn't tell if she was on fire or if this was what death felt like.

' _ **Sakura. You need to wake up.'**_ The voice said again. She saw white spots beginning to form behind her eyes. It was getting dark.

' _I—I can't move_!' She screamed in her head. Her arms fell slack to her sides. Naruto was snarling at her now, a red aura encasing him—the kyuubi taking over. He then threw her down onto the bed and straddled her, the sharingan spinning continuously in his eyes, his grip tightening even further on her throat. Why does he—

' _ **WAKE UP!'**_

' _Can't….BREATHE!'_ She yelled, kaleidoscope colors thrashing in her eyes as she stared into the red swirling orbs.

' _ **You need to breathe…'**_ The voice spoke, a sudden rush of something filled her lungs and she felt the need to throw up. The image of Naruto above her shifted and buzzed, like a hologram on a computer fuzzing in and out on a screen. The rush hit her lungs again—she was going to be sick.

' _ **Stay with me Sakura! You have to wake up!'**_ The voice was sounding desperate now and it was making her panic. The light around her was going dim, fading around the edges; her only line of sight was trained directly into the sharingan and the fangs now protruding from Naruto's mouth.

' _I'm going…to die…'_ She could feel her heartbeat slowing to a stop before a suddenly explosion of electricity slam through her body.

' _ **Open your eyes, Sakura!'**_

Sakura suddenly and painfully lurched up and she felt water spewing out of her throat and back onto herself. She felt as she was rolled to the side and water continued to spill from her mouth and out her nose. She coughed and hacked before inhaling the largest, most amazing gulp of air she'd ever experienced in her life. She continued to cough and gasp, suddenly feeling pairs of hands resting on her back and shoulder. Another was slapping her on the back. She could hear muffled yelling and screaming around her—her vision slowly coming into focus. She could see a pair of knees, kneeling into the mud next to her and feel a pair of hands brushing the wet hair from her face. She was rolled back over and she was confused to see a surprisingly worried Shikamaru looking down at her and to her shock—an unmasked Kakashi. Was she…dead? Did she really have to go to heaven to see Kakashi's face finally?

She could see her sensei's lips moving—he was saying something to her. She was too entranced by his mouth and she reached up a shaking gloved hand to touch the skin she'd never seen before.

"S-sensei?" She asked, her throat swollen and hoarse from coughing. Shikamaru and Kakashi's eyes both widened and they moved closer to her.

"Sakura. Are you with us? Are you okay?" Kakashi asked, a glint of rare concern sweeping across his face. Sakura quirked up the side of her mouth.

"You're…pretty." She said, before feeling herself slip into an unknown darkness. She needed to sleep. Sleep felt good right about now.

Kakashi and Shikamaru both looked completely surprised. Shikamaru looked at Sakura and then Kakashi with awe. Kakashi closed both of his eyes and grinned, setting Sakura's hand down onto her chest.

"She's going to be fine." Kakashi said, sitting back in the mud and replacing his bare face with his mask. Shikamaru let out a long breath and let his head fall down; his eyes clenched shut. He let himself fall back, his body squelching in the mud. He didn't care. He threw an arm over his eyes—feeling the all too rare sting of tears grace them.

'You stupid woman.' Shikamaru swallowed and let out a chuckle.

Kakashi ignored the ANBU team surrounding them. They had been the team sent out by Tsunade for back up and had made it just in time to help pull Sakura and Naruto from the collapsing underwater cavern. For the first time in a long time, Kakashi had begun to panic. When they couldn't find Sakura, a strange feeling had slipped itself into his gut. He hadn't liked it. When they'd felt the rumbles beneath them, after a day of searching he knew where she was. He'd sent Pakkun through small crevice on the beach—he'd been entirely without a plan at that point. They waited in bated breath. Shikamaru was power smoking cigarettes behind him—his own form of worrying. It was rare to see the Shadow user so worked up. After moments of waiting an explosion sounded behind them, the ocean shooting up like a geyser, sending a tidal wave towards them. They jumped out of the way as the water crashed into the cliff and found that it was quickly receding back towards the explosion. Pakkun suddenly appeared in a poof next to him when he landed back on the beach.

"Sakura—she's found Naruto. It's not good Kakashi." The pug said, panting. He nodded his snout towards the explosion site and they all took off running across the choppy storm churned waves. They came upon a whirlpool—it was like someone had taken the plug out of a bathtub and the water was draining. Kakakshi looked up to Shikamaru and Taigo and Rika and the other jounin—he'd forgotten his name—and nodded. Kakashi crouched slightly; channeling his chakra into his arm and with a shout the Chidori came to life. He took a running leap before diving straight down into the middle of the whirlpool—his Chidori exploding against the center. The explosion and flash of light didn't quell his mission—find Sakura and get. Her. OUT.

The water greeted him with a cold shock and he felt Shikamaru's chakra diving in behind him and they swam.

Now…Kakashi was at a small ease. Sakura was awake and for a split moment—he was afraid; afraid of having to go through that pain of losing someone important to him again. He looked from his pink haired companion to the blond down the beach from them. Kakashi wasn't sure about Naruto. Kakashi could feel a coldness creeping over him. Nightmares from dreams past snaking their way into his veins. He noticed with grimness that Naruto's Kyuubi seal was gone and when they'd dragged him to the beach, Taigo performing CPR, he felt shock run through him—as if the Chidori had backfired into him—when they yelled that he had a heartbeat.

He was awestruck. No one ever survived a demon extraction. He leaned back a little more; his hands resting on the ground next to him and let his head fall back allowing the rain to splash down onto him… and under his mask…he smiled.

* * *

Tsunade walked to the door of her number one patient. She lifted a hand to grab the door handle and gasped a little when she found her hand to be shaking. She grew angry—this wasn't the time to be afraid. She didn't know why she was afraid. It was just the Uchiha boy. He wasn't any danger now…right? She didn't know what to expect—after sending such a young boy out on a death-defying mission. She'd been racked with guilt the moment she'd drawn up the mission papers. It was too easy back then to put a burden as severe as this onto someone else—easing the burden of Orochimaru onto someone else's shoulders. She'd been ashamed all these years. She'd hated herself. A slow, burning hate. She was a coward and she'd gone and ruined someone else's—a child's—life.

Tsunade—the Fifth Hokage—one of the Legendary Sannin—was afraid of what was on the other side of the door. The boy—the Uchiha boy. She knew what it was now. She was afraid of what she'd turned him into.

"Tsunade-sama?"

Tsunade jumped at the voice and turned around swiftly. Shizune was looking at her oddly.

"Yes? What is it?" She snapped, crossing her arms defensively. Shizune looked at her mentor and friend, clutching books to her chest tightly. She was worried for the woman before her.

"Are you going in? He requested you the moment he woke up."

Tsunade swallowed and frowned. She scoffed and rested her weight on one leg. "I know, Shizune. I just…" She trailed off, not really knowing what to say. A hand appeared on one of her crossed arms. It was warm. Friendly. Comforting. Tsunade relaxed and realized she was being silly. She couldn't let her emotions get the best of her. Although she too…felt weak at times. She shook her head and gave a small smile to her friend.

"Thanks." She nodded and turned to the door and slid it open with a snap before stepping in.

* * *

A shorter chapter. BUT! Finally I can start on a new arc to the story. ALSO I was watching Episode 26 of Shippuuden— **TOTAL. SAKURA. BADASSERY**. I had the chills while I watched her beat the shit out of Sasori. She's come a long way and I can't help feeling proud—in a weird 'I'm in awe over a not real animated character' sort of way—at how far she's come and how she doesn't give up!

 **CHA.**

Anyways. Thank you ALL for taking the time to leave awesome reviews for the last chapter. You have no idea how much it warms my heart to receive your opinions. YOU MAKE MY WORLD GO ROUND! Keep them coming! More soon. :D

 **SlytherinNinjaKnight**

 **TacticalDubstep**

 **deedee2034**

 _ **Thank you.**_

Risu.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hope**

 **6**

Disclaimer: Dear God I wish Naruto was real and I owned everything. Like I was the Hokage and all the characters were mine…and mine alone ( **glances at Kakashi sinfully** ).

" _ **Once you choose hope, anything's possible."**_

 _ **-Christopher Reeve**_

00000

* * *

Sakura had woken only moments ago. She was in the hospital. At least she figured as much because she was hooked up to a heart monitor that wouldn't stop beeping…beeping… **BEEPING**. She sat up in a flash and lunged to smash the stupid machine, only to find herself gasp and crumple in a ball of pain. It felt like her insides were on fire. Her lungs ached—she'd felt like she had been inflated like a balloon—stretch beyond what her body could take as a human—and then popped abruptly before her body could adjust to the sudden change. Her throat was parched—it felt like she'd swallowed sand. She peeked an eye open in search of a glass of water next to her and she saw one. Slowly, achingly, she reached an arm out and made a grab for the glass, only to have her fingers glance across it, causing it to tumble and crash to the floor. Some water sprayed up to her face and she gasped.

 _So much water… she was gasping, her vision was blurry—unable to see underwater. She could see sudden burst of light—an explosion?—and an unsettling cackle seeped itself into her ears._

Sakura came back to herself and was struggling to breathe—she was panicking and she couldn't breathe. She couldn't get herself to inhale any air. She lunged for the emergency nurse button next to her bed; effectively crashing out of the bed and taking her IV stand with her. She reached up the best she could, her vision blurring from the lack of air, and slammed her hand on the red buzzer. Before she realized it, she was lifted back to her bed, placed back down, and a pair of hands resting on her chest. She opened her eyes and they met with her shishou. Tsunade was staring down into her eyes; she was saying something, and her hands resting on her chest with glowing hands.

"Sakura? You're okay. You're safe now. Just breathe." She said. Sakura looked at her still struggling to get an air in, when she felt the pressure lift and she inhaled deeply. She could feel herself relax from Tsunade's healing hands. Sakura lay back and exhaled before closing her eyes. She could still hear people bustling around, checking the IV in her arm, and fluffing her pillow. She heard Tsunade, after many moments, yell at everyone to get out. Sakura couldn't have been more grateful. She was home. She was back from the rescue mission to find Naruto. She suddenly felt a pain radiated itself in her chest and hot tears filled her eyes and threatened to spill over. She didn't want it to be true. First Sasuke had left and now—she didn't know what she was going to do. She was alone. She had failed to keep her team safe. She was a failure. She looked up at her Shishou—she didn't know how to tell her leader, her Hokage…that she'd failed to keep their number one priority shinobi alive.

"Shishou—" She started, her voice cracking. She was trying to keep her emotions in check. She couldn't go back on what was expected of her.

"Sakura—" Tsunade started, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Naruto—"

"Is alive."

"I didn't make it in time." She was spilling out everything. She couldn't stop the bubbles of tears sliding out of her eyes and down her face, resting uncomfortably in her ears.

"Sakura he's—"

"I failed Shishou—I—"

"Sakura!" Tsunade exploded. Her eyes flared and the diamond on her forehead sheened in a brilliant light. Sakura choked back a sob and stared wide eyed at her teacher. Tsunade composed herself, her grip on the bedrails relinquished, leaving them crumpled and twisted. If Sakura were any other person, she'd probably be terrified.

"He's alive." Tsunade spoke again. Sakura looked at her as if she'd spoken in a foreign language.

"What?" Sakura felt herself freeze.

"Naruto." Tsunade began again. She placed a hand on her student's shoulder and gave it a small squeeze. "He's alive, Sakura."

Sakura didn't know what to feel. She couldn't feel anything. Is this what people meant when they felt numb? So many things flitted through her mind—the unmoving body of her friend, the pain of drowning, the moment she realized that the kyuubi had been taken and her best friend was dead. That stupid dream she'd had about everything being normal—Naruto sporting the sharingan and strangling her. Seeing Kakashi's face for the first time and waking up in the hospital—suddenly being told that everything that had happened in the past however many days wasn't really what it was at all.

"How…is that possible?" She asked, her tears stopping. She wanted to leap from her bed and run and find him; to make sure he was okay and it was true. Tsunade shifted next to her and moved the guarding bedrails down and sat down. She placed a hand on Sakura's head and gave her a small smile.

"I don't know. The only thing I know is that I was having a rather surprisingly pleasant day, when suddenly two of my most important people were rushed to the hospital—one barely alive and the other suffering from severe chakra depletion. Let me tell you something, girl. There's not enough sake in this WORLD to sedate this old woman's soul." Tsunade grinned slightly, gesturing a thumb to her chest. Sakura felt her lips twitch. She had so many questions. How was there even a possibility of him being alive? What is the purpose of taking the kyuubi in the first place? The Akatsuki hadn't been active for years after their group's desolation. Her head was starting to hurt. She looked back up at her mentor.

"Can I see him?"

Tsunade sighed. "Not yet. He's been placed in a medical chamber beneath the hospital being monitored by some of the best chakra specialists. Shizune is leading them." She paused and took in the look of disdain on her student's face. "You on the other hand. You need rest. You've severely depleted all of your chakra to the point that your chakra streams almost collapsed. I don't know what you did out there—I don't know what you had to do out there to save your stupid butt and Naruto's—" Tsunade leaned forward and grasped Sakura's face with her hands and closed her eyes before putting her forehead on her student's forehead"—I'm so _glad_ you're alive."

It was a rare thing for Tsunade to show such deep emotion and Sakura wasn't sure at first how to take it. She knew Tsunade had a good heart in her and years of having moments of failure and losing loved ones, had created a hardened cage around the Lady Hokage's heart but it was these moments that Sakura cherished—as rare as they were.

Tsunade suddenly sat up and she had glint in her eyes. "And if you ever go and try and get yourself almost killed again, Sakura—I'll knock you so hard your future descendants will feel the sting!" And just like that, the moment was over. Sakura smiled.

* * *

Tsunade mulled over a bottle of sake. Sakura was going to be fine. She'd felt an all too familiar fear, a creepy, icy, feeling that settled into the pit of her heart at the thought of losing another person she'd come to love so much. Shikamaru and Kakashi had just finished their briefing and had left her to her drinking. She didn't know where to even begin. There had been almost an everlasting peace that had settled over Konoha for years—too many years and it had ground her gears because she knew all too well that it wasn't going to last. She wasn't called a legendary sucker for nothing. She leaned over and opened her drawer full of lottery tickets and pulled out the top three she most recently purchased. She compared them listlessly to the newspaper clippings on her desk, the matching lottery numbers glaring up at her. She scoffed and crumpled the papers in her hands. She'd won all three of the lottery drawings. Normally she'd be all too excited; more money for gambling, but gone were the days of excitement when they'd become nothing but a bad omen. Something was coming and she was, for the first time in so many years, at a loss as to what she was supposed to do.

Her first priority is Naruto. She'd never heard of a Jinchuuriki surviving a demon extraction so with him being alive right now, she at least had motive to start learning about _why._ She took another swig of her sake and set the cup down onto her desk, before standing and moving to the window of her office. Her thoughts strayed to the conversation she'd had earlier in the week with Sasuke.

 _Tsunade stopped just in the doorway, frozen, at the sight before her. The child—now a man—sat up in his bed, his body turned towards the window. What was he looking at she wondered. His hands rested in his lap, relaxed. He was at ease. He felt safe she thought. She reached behind her and grabbed the door and shut it with a soft snap. The noise seemed to jostle Sasuke from his thoughts and he turned his head away from the window—his eyes slanting to hers. She crossed her arms and took in the man before her—how much he'd changed. Gone, was the baby-faced boy with eyes so cold. His features had sharpened, his jaw jutted out gracefully from his hairline—she could see an essence of his father and mother in his face. How tragic—to have to see your parents everyday in the mirror. She wouldn't want that for herself and she felt sad that he had to dwell with that. He had a sense of air about him that was overwhelming and she couldn't tell if it was suffocating or relieving. She shook her head and cleared her throat. She was getting off track. It was time to face her demons. She moved forward and went to speak when Sasuke spoke first, cutting her off._

" _I finished what you asked of me. I'm leaving the moment you release these chakra restraints on me." His voice held no emotion—his expression just the same. It was a statement and not a demand. Tsunade quirked an eyebrow and moved to stand before him._

" _As far as I'm concerned, you're in no position to be saying such things. Especially to me." She attempted to keep a stern look on her face, she could feel herself faltering—her shame overriding everything._

 _Sasuke continued to stare at her before shifting and turning his head back towards the window. He seemed to be stuck on watching something out there._

" _Orochimaru has been dead for years. It was a part of the deal we made." She said, trying to draw his attention back to her and the matter at hand. He seemed to physically deflate at the mentioning of that. He turned back towards her and lay back slightly on his propped up bed. He closed his eyes and rested his hands next to his body. Tsunade took that moment and continued._

" _You wanted your brother dead and the only way I was going to let you leave the village was to send you undercover into Orochimaru's faction. You were to train under him, learn from him, and spy on him. You were to send coded messages back to me. You were to become stronger to kill your brother and then you were supposed to come back to Konoha. Why is that you haven't until now? I'm pretty sure I received word that Itachi had died at your hands well over 4 years ago." Tsunade waited. There was so much more she wanted to say, to apologize and to tell him how much she'd hated herself all these years for sending him out into the terrifying world, on a suicide mission, before he'd even reached puberty. But now…wasn't the time. He was to stay here and she would make sure of it._

 _Sasuke smirked slightly, his eyes still closed. "Tch. There isn't anything here for me, so why would I want to come back? At least…why would_ they _want me back in the first place?" He finished the last part quietly, opening his eyes and staring right at her._

 _She sighed and smacked a hand on her forehead. "You're basically assuming that "they" wouldn't want you back? Team Kakashi searched so many years for you. They never stopped. They never gave up. The only reason they stopped was because I threatened to strip them of their shinobi status, before they went and got themselves killed." She leaned back against the door and crossed her arms. "But…I'm impressed that you were able to keep your mission a secret for so long without them finding out. They were hurt, yes. They still hurt…but you've done well. And with that said-it's time for you to come back home."_

 _Sasuke let out a small chuckle, closing his eyes again and rolled away from her. "Where's is the dobe anyways? I'm surprised he hasn't come running in here, screaming like banshee on fire."_

" _Naruto's missing." She didn't miss a beat and was surprised when she saw him freeze. "But then again you already knew that. Didn't you?"_

 _Sasuke's eyes narrowed and he turned his head slightly her way before turning his eyes back to the window. "The last thing I remember was being attacked by the group of Sound ninja I had been sent out to scout with. They'd turned on me and I had taken care a great deal of them when Naruto…suddenly appeared out of nowhere and preceded to attack the men I was with. Then…"_

" _Then?" Tsunade urged on. This was more than she'd ever heard come out of the Uchiha. She wasn't about to stop it now._

" _I…can't even describe it. It was…beyond anything I'd ever seen. My sharingan couldn't even analyze it." He continued, his voice almost too soft to hear. She moved around to the other side of him and sat in a chair next to him. His eyes slid open and stared directly at her._

" _And?" She asked, crossing her arms and resting back in the chair._

" _It was a Bijuu. It sported eight tails." He said, his eyes flicking to the pillow beneath him, almost as if he could still see what he'd seen only days before._

 _Tsunade eyes widened a fraction before scoffing. "You know the Akatsuki are no longer around. The Bijuu that had been taken from their Jinchuuriki have been destroyed. There's no way it was a tailed beast." She said, sitting up straight and gripped the chair's armrests. She watched as Sasuke moved to sitting up again and he grasped the hair on his head in what looked like a painful grip. She almost gasped when she felt his chakra fluctuate erratically. 'He's…afraid?'_

" _It had eight heads. Faces…so many faces. They were all speaking at once…I couldn't make out what they were saying-it translated as screams in my head. Naruto…the stupid dobe…ran at it like mad man and I couldn't move—the men with me had been blasted to shreds as this…thing omitted pulsating shrieks. I'd created a chakra shield in time but not fast enough to not have my organs ruptured."_

 _Tsunade swallowed, almost not believing what he was saying. How? How could there be another tailed beast? And with eight heads? There's no way. The Bijuu had been destroyed. She looked at the man before her and a flash of the young boy she'd sent out too soon appeared before becoming the grown man he was now again. His hands were gripping his hair tightly and they were shaking slightly. She reached out hesitantly and tapped the hand closest to her. She sent a jolt of calming chakra into him and he relaxed almost instantly. His hands dropped to the bed once again and he looked at her._

" _I have seen many things in my time out there." He said, his eyes never leaving hers. "I've seen more death and I've killed more than I care to count—in those instances I'd never been scared. But this…" He looked away before closing his eyes again. He gripped his right temple with his languid fingers, almost as if to will away a sudden migraine. "For the first time since that night Itachi killed my family—I was terrified. I could do NOTHING. I was USELESS."_

 _Tsunade let out a rush of air she hadn't known she was holding. She didn't know what to say. Things were certainly becoming interesting. She swallowed and stood up._

" _Rest, Uchiha. You're not going anywhere. Not until questions are finally answered." She should have said more. There was so much more she wanted to say. So many apologies were riding on her lips but she couldn't bring them to pass out any further. She wandered to the door and stopped before looking back at the still Sasuke. He had resumed his position of staring out of the window and she looked out to where his eyes were trained. They were resting on the Hokage Mountain—to the mansion sprawled across the cliff side. She didn't think anything of it and opened the door when his voice stopped her._

" _I don't blame you." She froze. "I did what I had to do and you did too, so stop feeling guilty. It's annoying."_

" _Tch." She mouthed before leaving the room and sliding the door closed. She leaned against the door and felt like the world's largest weight lift from her shoulders. Maybe…just maybe—she could start to forgive herself a little faster knowing that he didn't blame her for everything that she blamed herself for._

* * *

Sakura looked up from her front window of her apartment and gave a small smile. Ino was walking up the front step, dragging a reluctant Shikamaru and an ever-snacking Chouji was trailing behind. She shook her head at the sight. The people she surrounds herself with… A buzzing sound was heard and she dried her hands on a towel and wandered to the intercom buzzer next to her door.

"Hello?" She asked. She took her finger off the intercom button and waited.

"Sakura! Buzz us in! I haven't seen you since you got back! You had better not be maimed beyond repair or so help me I'll come up there and knock you flat again!" Ino yelled into the intercom, causing it to crackle annoyingly. Sakura laughed and decided to play a little longer.

"Sakura-chan isn't here at the moment. If you want to leave a message she'll get back to you as soon as she returns." She took her hand off the buzzer and waited. A string of obscenities and punches could be heard and Sakura couldn't help but let out a good long laugh. Gosh…it's been so long since she'd laughed like that. She almost felt guilty when she knew Naruto was still in a coma in the hospital. She sobered up and pushed the buzzer to let her friends in. Within moments, as she wandered back to the kitchen to resume cleaning, Ino busted in the door and directed a flurry of hugs to Sakura, engulfing her.

"I can't believe you! You've been out of the hospital for a month and you haven't come by to see me, you dolt!" Ino admonished, gripping Sakura in a painful bear hug.

"Ino—you're hurting me." She gasped and moved away when Ino finally let go. Sakura took in the sight of her friend before her. She still wore her hair extremely long, her gravity defying bangs framing one side of her face. She had on her short purple shirt and her long matching skirt. Sakura felt her eye twitch at the sight of her friend's large assets, glancing down her smaller mounds and crossing her arms over them in defense. She glanced out of the kitchen doorway and saw Chouji had taken up residence on the loveseat, still munching on his potato chips and Shikamaru was seated on the balcony, smoking as usual.

"What brings you guys here? I'm sorry that I haven't come buy to see you. I just…needed some time you know?" Sakura said, giving Ino what was hopefully an understanding look.

"I understand, Forehead. But a _month_? You know how impatient I get when it comes to you." Ino stated, putting a hand on her hip. Sakura let out a scoff and turned to head towards the living room.

"Chouji-kun! You're getting chips all over Sakura's couch!" Ino growled, gritting her teeth. She walked over and started brushing crumbs off the couch and into her hands. Sakura shook her head and wandered to the seat next to the balcony.

"It's okay, Ino. I've been cleaning all day anyways." Sakura smiled. Shikamaru made a 'tch' sound and finished his cigarette and stood in the doorway.

"How's Naruto doing?" He asked, stuffing his hands into his pockets looking possibly more bored than ever. At the mention of Naruto, Sakura sighed.

"He's still the same. Normal heart rate. There's brain activity which is a really good things but he's still stuck in whatever coma world he's in. I haven't been able to go and see him as much as I should. Tsunade-sama has me on leave, barely allowing me to do work from home."

"So they don't know why he's still alive yet?" Chouji asked, crumpling up his bag up into a ball and stuffing it into his pocket.

"No, not yet. It's seriously beyond any kind of scientific or medical explanation, really." Sakura quipped, putting a hand to her cheek.

"Aren't the Bijuu supposed to be sealed to the soul's of their Jinchuuriki? So in a sense they're really APART of the person they're sealed in. So…that's where the real question comes in—how is he still alive?" Shikamaru stated quietly, almost as if he'd forgotten he was in room of people and was talking to himself.

"Come ooooon, guys. Let's talk about something else. All this talk about 'Why isn't Naruto dead' is really giving me a buzz kill." Ino said, running a hand through her long hair. "Let's talk about the festival that's coming up!"

Everyone, other than Ino, all shared exasperated sighs. "Ino…aren't we a little too old to be going festivals? I mean…we're going to be twenty six next year…" Chouji muttered, leaning back onto the loveseat and propping his feet up onto the coffee table in front of him.

"Bah! We're never too old to go and enjoy ourselves! Come on guys! The festival is something we all used to go to when we were younger. Now everyone is too busy getting married and making babies and shit. I wanna have some fun before we all become too old to move!" Ino cheered. Everyone sighed again.

"All right, all right. When is this festival you're so excited for?" Sakura asked, standing up and moving towards the kitchen again.

"Three weeks from now! I have just the kimono to wear." Ino went off into her own little world and Sakura glanced back at the two men standing in the living room. They both shrugged at her—clearly being used to Ino's excitements after so many years.

After allowing them to talk her into treating her to some barbecue—much to Chouji's excitement—Sakura was saying her goodbyes when Shikamaru stopped her.

"What's up Shikamaru-kun?" She asked, turning to look at him.

"I wanted to talk to you." He said sighing like it was the last thing he actually wanted to do.

"Okay? What about?" She started walking in the direction of her apartment. She heard Shikamaru flick his lighter alive and lit the cigarette hanging from his mouth.

"I really don't want to talk about Naruto—there really isn't a whole lot to talk about on that subject anyways right now—"

"It's not that." He said, sucking on the cigarette. Sakura frowned. Shikamaru was never one to **want** to talk about something. Or anything, for that matter. So…him being this way now, kinda freaked her out.

"Then what is it?" She asked, growing impatient. Shikamaru looked at her when her voice was clipped in annoyance. He looked right at her and stared.

"You scared the shit out of us." He stated plainly, not moving his eyes from hers.

"What?" She said, seriously suddenly feeling confused. What is he talking about?

"Not just me. But Kakashi-sensei too. You scared the shit out of us." He said, turning away from her. Sakura gaped at what he meant.

"That was like a month ago. I'm fine now!" She stated, scurrying to move in front of him. She looked up at her friend and stopped. He had such a serious look on his face that she became at a loss for words.

"Shikamaru…?" She asked. Okay…this was strange. Her friend NEVER got like this. It was rare to even see him laugh but THIS-this was a stranger emotion.

"Look. It's not something I'd normally talk about. It's bothersome to talk to people about this crap—but when Kakashi and I found you we seriously thought that you were dead. I've never seen Kakashi _almost_ freak out over something like that before." He said, taking another long drag on his cigarette.

Sakura didn't know what to say. For once she was at a loss for words. Probably from the fact that Shikamaru—the laziest person alive—was letting her in to see a part of him even his own parents probably rarely saw. The usual stoic and grumpy looking shinobi before her had such a calm look on his face, that it scared her.

"Hey—hey! I'm okay. I mean…yeah. I didn't think I was going to make it out of there and when I suddenly wake up to your guys' ugly mugs I was sure I was dead." She said, giving him a slight punch on the shoulder, trying to lighten the mood. It worked somewhat, as Shikamaru allowed one side of his mouth to rise in a smirk.

"It's weird. I never thought we'd be friends." He said, finishing his cigarette and flicking it away. Sakura smiled.

"Me too. One day we're minding our own business and then the next I was forced to play a game of Shogi with you."

"Meh. You're the first person to be able to keep up with me. You're better than Asuma-sensei." He said, stuffing his hands into his pockets. They resumed walking again and when they made it to her apartment she sat down on the front step, patting the seat next to her. He sat down and rested his elbows on his knees.

"So…how did you guys get me back alive anyways?" She asked. She'd been wondering for a while ever since she woke up in the hospital actually. Shikamaru scoffed.

"Kakashi chidoried you." He stated as if was the most natural solution in the entire world.

"What?!" She yelled. "He used a chidori to get my heart beating again?"

"Yeah. Right after he gave you mouth to mouth."

Sakura's jaw nearly dropped to the floor. "W-what?! Kakashi!? Mouth to m-mouth?"

"Tch. I thought the guy was crazy but apparently it was to try and get the water out of your lungs and get you breathing again. I never paid much attention to health class at the academy or even took an interest in medic crap, but I guess it worked."

Sakura smacked him on the shoulder, her eyes still wide. "I can't believe—Hey! I actually saw him without his mask! That was the first time!"

"Don't sound so excited. The guy almost had a nervous breakdown. Especially after you called him 'Pretty'." He said, taking out another cigarette. Sakura laughed and cringed slightly. What could she say? Kakashi was pretty nice to look at. She sighed and leaned her head against his shoulder.

"Thanks, Shikamaru." She meant it. She'd never thought she'd have a close friend like him. Especially with someone that never talked much and complained quite a bit about everything. But then again…everyone on her team—besides Naruto of course—were never one to talk much at all.

"Meh. Just go and see Kakashi one of these days. He's acting all cool and shit as usual but I'm sure he's been wanting to see you." Shikamaru said, standing up and moving to leave when he suddenly paused.

"Shikamaru?" She asked. She couldn't see past him down the walkway so she leaned over to see what was in front of him and she froze. Well it was more like her insides froze. She felt her heart stop. Her blood froze in her veins. Her brain stopped thinking. There's no way…It's not possible. Another voice broke her from her shock.

"Sakura." Tsunade was standing in front of Shikamaru just outside of the apartment's gate next to the reason why she was so shocked. "Sakura…we need to talk and seeing as Nara is here and has found out unfortunately, he might as well stay too." She had such a serious look on her face, while standing in her usual stance with a hand on her hip and her weight resting on one leg.

Sakura stood up and moved up behind Shikamaru, almost afraid to peer over his shoulder. She closed her eyes and moved to stand next to him. Sure enough. Uchiha Sasuke stood just behind her Shishou. Looking as stoic and emotionless as ever.

* * *

" _Where am I?" Naruto opened his eyes and found himself unable to see anything. Was he blind? No…he could see himself. He was…where was he? He moved to stand up and grimaced when he felt no strength coming from his legs._

" _Am I…dead?" His voice wasn't even echoing. It was like he was in a really enclosed room. It was claustrophobic. He reached his arms out and felt around—his hand grazing nothing but emptiness. A pain suddenly shot through his stomach and he collapsed onto the floor._

" _No…what happened? Wait! Kurama!" He grimaced and looked down at himself. He knew it. There wasn't a seal on his stomach anymore. So…how?_

" _Tch. Looks like you haven't figured it out yet, boy." A voice to his right garnered his attention and his eyes landed on a little fox, sitting a few feet away._

" _K-Kurama?" He asked. It looked like him…but—_

" _You're so tiny and cute!" Naruto grinned leaning over and grabbing the small kit._

" _Oi oi oi! Hands off me stupid kid!" The fox struggled, before finally escaping the death grip from Naruto._

" _What the heck, why are you so small?" Naruto asked. This was strange. Normally Kurama filled an entire room and then some._

" _Look kid. This is what's left of me inside of you. You died. Barely. Well, wait, you DID die but thankfully that pink haired girl of yours came at the right time and smacked some life into you. Which in turn smacked the essence of me left in you back to life." Kurama stated, leaning to one side and scratched the back of his ear with his hind leg._

" _Wait. Pink hair? You mean Sakura? She came?" Kurama nodded. 'So I was right. I knew I felt a presence like hers when I was still strapped up.'_

" _Oi! I'm talking here, kid!" Naruto looked at the small fox in front of him and grinned._

" _You're so snappy and so cute, Kurama! I like this size of you! You should lighten up some more in your other huge form—"_

" _Hey! Would you listen? I'm trying to talk—" Kurama started, getting annoyed._

"— _You'd be so cuddly when winter comes around—"_

" _Oi!" Kurama barked. Naruto snapped out of his ramblings and looked at Kurama expectantly._

" _Ugh. You are seriously the same as you were when you were younger." Kurama grumbled, moving forward and plopping down in front of Naruto. Naruto frowned and gave him a pout as if to say "Nuh uh! I'm so grown up now!"._

" _You need to listen to what I'm saying, boy." Kurama continued. He didn't wait for Naruto to say anything. "I'm barely part of your body now. Trace amounts of me still live in your soul. I can't believe they pretty much got all of me."_

" _So this is how I'm able to still see you? Are you able to help me get out of here?" Naruto asked, moving to sit up more straight._

" _No. There isn't even enough of me here to be able to even take a crap anywhere." The chibi Kyuubi scoffed._

" _So…what do I do?" Naruto asked, feeling the darkness close in a little more. It was getting hard to breathe._

" _You need to get out of here yourself, kid. I'm just here to tell you that you should be using the life force that, that girl shoved into your system before you literally croaked. You're lucky she was there in time or we really would be goners." Kurama said, suddenly looking down at his tail and began chasing it in circles._

" _Wait—you mean…Sakura used some form of reanimation jutsu on me?" Naruto asked._

" _I guess in a way. It's more like she literally transferred a piece of her soul into you. I don't think she meant to, she was just trying to heal you and I think she was working too much of her chakra from her hands that she put more of her own life force into her chakra stream. So, she literally accidentally created a reanimation jutsu and laced it into you."_

" _I have…so…I'm alive because Sakura used her_ _ **soul**_ _on me? Is she—alive too?" He asked, suddenly feeling a dreading feel creep over him in the form of a cold sweat._

" _I don't know. So hurry the hell up and get out of this place and find the rest of me again. I don't have any contact with whatever larger part of me that was sealed by those assholes." Kurama said, finally catching his tail in his teeth._

 _Naruto closed his eyes and leaned back onto his hands. 'Sakura saved me…right when I was about to give up, she saved me. Is she dead? Did she…ended up like Chiyo-baachan?' He felt a little panic rise up in him at the thought. No…she wouldn't do something like that for him. Would she? I mean sure she was his closest friend and an extremely gifted medic-nin who KNEW that she had a duty to do even if it cost her, her life. But she wouldn't do that for him…would she? When had he begun to be so doubtful towards her? She was selfless and would do anything to save someone, especially a friend. But WOULD she do something like give her own life force to save someone else? There's a difference between saving someone from death while in combat, like blocking a devastating blow or running head long towards an enemy knowing that they'll die to save a village and then there's dying because you're sacrificing your own life to bring someone else back to life. It was too much. That would be an ultimate act of love and selflessness._

" _Sakura wouldn't do that for me…" He mumbled out loud._

" _Sure she would." Kurama piped up, sounding bored while licking his paw and rubbing it across his face. "You really put a lot of love in your nindo but that doesn't mean other people don't share your nindo or even have their own nindo. I've been able to observe that girl since you met her and despite a tumultuous beginning between you too, I can say that she would definitely sacrifice herself for you. But! Seriously kid. You're thinking way to far ahead. She may still be alive because hey—you're still stuck here so if you'd gotten all of her life force wouldn't you have been awake and wandering aimlessly looking for ramen like you normally do by now?"_

 _Naruto contemplated the fox demon's words. He was right. Of course he was. The damn fox was always one step ahead of him. Well…everyone usually was but that was beside the point. 'Sakura-chan…You'd better be alive.' Suddenly, as if he'd been electrocuted, a searing, burning pain erupted in his chest where his heart was and he cried out and clutched his hand to his chest. Slowly, surely, he felt his heart begin to beat. He hadn't realized that it wasn't beating at all until now. Nor had he been breathing and he was gasping in large gulps of air—like the darkness had been drowning him and he'd finally surfaced._

" _Okay kid! Looks like you've finally gotten past all this crap. Don't forget what I told you! Find me! ALL of me! And give pinkie a hug from me for knocking me back to life too!" Kurama called. Naruto opened his eyes and found Kurama was still sitting a large distance away from him. He turned and looked ahead of him and found himself staring at what looked like a tunnel entrance—the light coming through was blinding and he shielded his eyes with his hand. Noises were roaring in his ears, like a hurricane's winds, strips of colors began streaking past him wrapping themselves around him and he struggled—the pain in his chest still aching. He was being pulled towards the light and struggled as he might he was yanked through only to find darkness again._

His eyes snapped open and he gasped for air, his arms and legs flailed violently as if to catch himself from an imaginary fall. He could hear a machine beeping erratically from somewhere next to him—his blood pressure was skyrocketing—his eyes tried to focus on where he was. His body had a mind of it own—seizing uncontrollably.

"Naruto! Oh my god, Naruto! Calm down—" Came a panicked voice next to him. He wrenched his neck to his right and saw the object of his coma's dreams.

"S-sak-u." He managed to grind out. She was quickly forming hand seals before placing her hands on his chest, a green light consuming his entire body and he felt himself relax; his body no longer seizing. She was looking at him with concern and he felt his eyes drooping in sleep—NO! He wouldn't go to sleep again! He couldn't! He'd only just woken up. He didn't want to. Not when Sakura was here with him—she was ok right? Or was he still dreaming? He'd found some strength and his arm shot out without thinking about it and clutched her arm that was covered in the white of her doctor's jacket. She's real! She was here. She was alive. HE was alive.

"Naruto? Can you hear me?" She asked, unclenching his hand from her forearm before leaning over him and flashing a small light in both of his eyes. 'She's okay. Sakura-chan…you're okay…' The relief he felt was soothing and so overwhelming he couldn't help the feeling of complete and total elation rush over his body. It became too much and he felt it bubble over in his eyes as tears.

"Na..ruto?" Sakura asked, becoming concerned when she saw tears filling his eyes. She leaned closer to him ready to ask if he was in pain anywhere, when he reached up with his hand and gently placed it on her cheek. The feeling of his rough skin again her soft skin, sent a shiver down her body. She felt his thumb run its way over her bottom lip and then his entire hand moved back slightly to lightly grasp the hair on the back of her head.

"Naruto?" She tried again. Through his blurry eyes and tightening chest he let out a sound that sounded like a half sob and half laugh.

"You're okay…" He croaked. "You're okay. You aren't dead." He trailed off, not caring that he was full blown crying by now. It was Sakura. They both lead their entire lives by emotions. He felt a hand place itself on his and he looked at her. She gave him a small smile—and a look in her eyes he couldn't understand. It was soft. She leaned forward and put her forehead on his, closing her eyes. He closed his eyes too, taking in the floral scent of her skin before swallowing painfully. His throat was dry but that didn't matter right now. He felt her shift and he opened his eyes again. She was looking at him with relief all over her face. The tears wouldn't stop and he didn't want them too. He felt better and better with every one of them that spilled over. The hand that was tangled in her tresses pulled her gently closer to him and engulfed her into what he could manage as a hug at the moment. Just having her near him was enough. She was alive. He wasn't dead. It was enough. Her being alive was enough to keep him alive. He could feel his heart thudding in his chest and the air rushing into his lungs. He felt her shudder against him and looked down.

"Don't—don't look!" She quickly said, her voice thick with tears. She was crying. Was she happy or was she sad? He never liked it when she cried.

"So thankful." She said almost too quietly.

"Hmm?" He mustered, holding her closer to him, almost hoping that she didn't feel his heart beating painfully in his chest.

"I'm so thankful, you're alive." She said again, a sob escaping her. He suddenly felt tired and this time he didn't fight it. He was here. She was here. His friend. His best friend. She was happy he was alive. That was the most precious feeling he'd felt in a long time. He loved this woman and even though it was an unrequited love…just having her say that she was thankful for him was enough to warm him for years to come. Sleep was taking him quicker than he wanted, but he was so tired. How could someone coming out of a coma be so tired when all they did was sleep? He felt Sakura shift against him again a few moments later and she untangled herself from his grasped. He watched as she wiped her face of tears and gave him a watery smile.

"You need rest. You haven't moved your body in over a month." She said, turning away and fiddling with an IV that was attached to his arm. She was embarrassed, crying in front of him. She'd always been like that, quick to cry and quick to get mad at someone catching her cry. If he had the energy he would have smiled. She hadn't changed at all since their teens. She turned back to him and ran a hand through his hair before letting it rest on his face.

"Sleep Naruto. I'll be here when you wake up again. I promise." She spoke softly.

Naruto swallowed again and nodded, drifting quickly away before he realized it. He was home. Alive and home. Sakura promised him she'd be here…maybe she followed the same nindo as him after all…

* * *

 **Uffda! So it's been a while. I've had some major writer's block and finally I've blasted past that and came out with this. Hopefully you all still stick with me! There's definitely going to be more about Sasuke in coming chapters but we'll have to focus on Naruto for a while, because seriously it's Naruto :3 And there will be more on Tsunade and the "mission" she'd sent Sasuke on. It's more of a twist I'd like to think on the main story.**

 **Thanks for all those who reviewed! You make writing for me a lot nicer.**

 **I'll try and update soon—I've been stuck on reading Sasu/Saku stories lately and have started to write one so I have to get my brain unjumbled and put some effort into writing more on this one. :D**


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